The date for parliamentary elections in Turkmenistan has been set.
Turkmenistan's state-run print media outlets published a parliamentary resolution on June 24 announcing the voting will take place on December 15.
For the first time since Turkmenistan gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, more than one party will take part in the polls.
Until last year, Turkmenistan had only one registered political party, the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan, formerly the Communist Party.
That party has always been headed by Turkmenistan's president.
The second party, the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, was registered in August 2012 after President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov said in a speech that a second party should be formed.
The party was then created under the Political Parties Act, which was adopted in January by Turkmenistan’s rubber-stamp parliament.
Turkmenistan's state-run print media outlets published a parliamentary resolution on June 24 announcing the voting will take place on December 15.
For the first time since Turkmenistan gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, more than one party will take part in the polls.
Until last year, Turkmenistan had only one registered political party, the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan, formerly the Communist Party.
That party has always been headed by Turkmenistan's president.
The second party, the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, was registered in August 2012 after President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov said in a speech that a second party should be formed.
The party was then created under the Political Parties Act, which was adopted in January by Turkmenistan’s rubber-stamp parliament.