Islom Karimov
Islom Karimov Ислом Каримов President of Uzbekistan Incumbent Assumed office 24 March 1990 Prime Minister Abdulhashim Mutalov O‘tkir Sultonov Shavkat Mirziyoyev Preceded by Position established First Secretary of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan In office 23 June 1989 – 29 December 1991 Preceded by Rafiq Nishonov Succeeded by Position abolished Personal details Born (1938-01-30) 30 January 1938 (age 77) Samarkand, Soviet Union (now Uzbekistan) Political party Communist Party (1964-1991) People's Democratic Party (1991–2007) Liberal Democratic Party (2007–present) Spouse(s) Tatyana Karimova Children Gulnara Lola Islom Abdug‘aniyevich Karimov (Cyrillic Uzbek: Ислом Абдуғаниевич Каримов; Russian: Ислам Абдуганиевич Каримов, Islam Abduganiyevich Karimov; born January 30, 1938) is the first President of Uzbekistan, in office since 1990. Karimov was placed in an orphanage in Samarkand at birth, growing up to study economics and engineering. He became an official in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, becoming the party's First Secretary in Uzbekistan in 1989. On March 24, 1990 he became President of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. Karimov's election to the Uzbek Communist Party resulted after his predecessor Rafik Nishanov failed to quell inter-ethnic clashes and instability in the Fergana region. He declared Uzbekistan an independent nation on August 31, 1991 and subsequently won Uzbekistan's first presidential election on December 29, 1991, with 86% of the vote. The election was called unfair[citation needed], with state-run propaganda and a falsified vote count, although the opposing candidate and leader of the Erk (Freedom) Party, Muhammad Salih, had a chance to participate. Karimov permitted the participation of the opposition organizations Birlik ("Unity") and the Islamic Renaissance Party until his efforts to consolidate power over Shukrullo Mirsaidov, a former Communist Party elite who had originally supported Karimov's rise to the Party presidency. The period of political thaw was brief; Karimov began to complicate the registration process of opposition parties during elections. As Birlik grew in strength as a "popular movement", it was denied the ability to register as a "political party" without the required 60,000 signatures. The Karimov government allowed Birlik one day to gather these signatures, 25,000 of which they rejected. Karimov effectively took authoritarian measures to block any meaningful opposition.