November 17, 2008
Elections In Turkmenistan Bring Changes, At Least Superficially
(RFE/RL) -- Turkmenistan has long had a reputation as one of the most authoritarian states in the world, with only one legally registered political party, no independent media, and a documented history of jailing government opponents.
Critics of the Turkmen government say previous elections were managed by the government and offered no genuine choice. The 1994 parliamentary election, for example, had 51 candidates running for 50 seats.
As campaigning for elections to an expanded parliament officially kicked off last week, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, who was health minister when the last elections were held in 2004, lauded the December 14 elections as a departure from the past -- and he has invited international monitors to come and see for themselves.
At a recent cabinet meeting, Berdymukhammedov described the vote as "very important -- especially from the political point of view -- because the programs about reforms that must be carried out soon are complex. It also includes issues such as how to place our society's citizens on a democratic path."
Berdymukhammedov said the ideal candidate should "come with popularity and great respect, specialists in their work. These sort of people should be elected."
Most countries would expect the same from their representatives, but how much of a change can be expected to result from Turkmenistan's poll under a new president?
The election will be held earlier than originally scheduled because the country approved a new constitution earlier this year that, among other changes, increased the number of seats in parliament from 50 to 125.
The new constitution also restored legislative powers to the parliament that were transferred to the Halk Maslahaty (People's Council) in 2003, although the fact that the government is strongly pro-presidential means the change is unlikely to alter the status quo.
Finding CandidatesCuriously, Berdymukhammedov said there would be 250 candidates running, two for each seat. While this guarantees some degree of choice, it is not readily apparent how Berdymukhammedov arrived at that number.
Turkmen civic activist Yaylim Begov thinks he knows the answer, and he explains to RFE/RL's Turkmen Service the difficulty outside candidates had in registering.
"The nomination of candidates for the Mejlis, you could say, is taking place according to the orders of the authorities. The nominating process was very easy for the official Galkynysh [Development] movement committees and the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan," Begov says.
"They can find a place where they can hold a [nominating] session during working hours and participate in forwarding candidates. They don't have any limitations about participants and figures of candidates.
"But a citizens' gathering can only nominate one candidate," he adds. "An initiative group created by 10 people would need to gather 200 people to nominate a candidate, but it is difficult to gather 200 people. These unjust steps give a legal basis to the law on the election of deputies of the Mejlis. Furthermore, one cannot find information from local media that citizens have forwarded any candidates."
The Democratic Party is the sole registered political party and Galkynysh is a state-supported movement, and despite Begov's suggestion, it is unclear that only those two groups will have candidates in the upcoming elections.
Registering DifficultiesBut given the Turkmen government's history of quickly stamping out perceived threats to the regime, one can assume that citizens might be apprehensive about gathering in public -- especially in groups of 200 -- to nominate alternative candidates.
There is further evidence that potential independent candidates faced a difficult task in getting registered. One of them is Gurbandurdy Durdykuliev, a would-be candidate who serves as an example of what can happen to those deemed opponents of the authorities.