[2] In the event, however, Yuldashev stood aside, and parliament on 8 September voted unanimously to appoint Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev as interim President.

During the campaign, Mirziyoyev promised to mostly continue Karimov's policies, although he also pledged to implement populist measures such as forcing state bureaucrats and local leaders to be more responsive to the people's concerns, and to establish a hotline to the president.

[10] During the campaign, government-controlled media repeated the message that if the Karimov-era autocracy ended, the only alternatives were political chaos or Islamic extremism.

[6][11] According to the Kremlin, the two leaders "confirmed their commitment to further strengthening of Russian-Uzbek relations of alliance and strategic partnership" during a phone call and Putin invited Mirziyoyev to visit Russia.

[6] Since Mirziyoyev had won the support of the regional clans by promising to share power with Rustam Azimov, the Deputy Prime Minister, and Rustam Inoyatov, who ran the national security apparatus, it was unclear how much power the newly elected president would actually wield.