Oriented on making people closer

Yesterday was one of the most significant not only this year, but also in the history of the country as a whole. Elections of deputies to the National Parliament of Turkmenistan were held on March 26. They will determine how the main legislative body of state power will look in the next five years.

Everyone was ready for this day, and especially those who worked directly with the electorate – thousands of members of precinct election commissions across the country. They were university teachers, secondary school teachers. It is noteworthy that more than 80% of all 2,644 sites were opened on the territory of educational institutions.

The elections also affected the scientific staff of the Dovletmammet Azadi Turkmen National Institute of World Languages. Being an election campaigner, I was able to plunge into the democratic "battle" between the candidates.

Being a member of the election commission is very responsible: the priority here is exceptional impartiality and activity, which should encourage voters to fulfill their civic duty. I myself did not notice how I became a real pro in this business.

I decided to conduct a small "investigation", during which I intended to find out how transparent the elections are. It dragged on for a long two months and was not in vain: everyone at our polling station was enriched with knowledge in the field of legislation, law and the state structure of Turkmenistan.

At the beginning of the election campaign, when the official press was already publishing lists of candidates, intensive work was carried out outside the walls of educational institutions to compile voter lists. I noticed how painstaking this task is. The list is carefully checked for inaccuracies several times and only then certified by the precinct commission. It turns out that this is done in order to avoid methods of election fraud by repeated voting of the same persons.

The list includes citizens who have been permanently residing in Turkmenistan for the last three months and have reached the age of eighteen. At some point I realized that if the process is complicated, then there will be mistakes in it and, accordingly, the commission may not take into account someone. However, the election team was already ready for the fact that someone could be "forgotten", that is, not listed, so the secretary and the chairman of the precinct prepared to add the voter to the list on the basis of the submitted documents.

15 days before the election, all the lists were already ready and we just had to get acquainted with them. And what surprised me the most was that the efforts were not in vain: there was not a single voter who appealed against not being included in the list — the commission was able to include everyone without electoral gaps. 30 days before the election, we drew up a duty schedule, during which we were ready to receive appeals, complaints or comments from voters. Everyone also passed the strength test here: even on weekends, the members of the commission were on guard. Everyone was waiting for March 26.

Then the printing of the cherished ballots began. By the way, it is carried out in state printing houses. At the same time, as it turned out, they are printed exactly 2% more of the required amount.

10 days before the election, the ballots, packaged and sealed in boxes, are already arriving at the polling stations. Their signing and quality control began. Everything is officially sealed, including the transportation of documentation, only after rechecking the quantity.

Next came the booths and the ballot box. Planning in advance the arrangement of the brought, we wanted to choose a place where the members of the commission themselves will be located. However, everything is not so simple: the location of the entire infrastructure is predetermined and strictly regulated. Because the ballot boxes had to stand so that the voters would necessarily pass through the booths, and the commission members and observers could see them.

We received the first voters during early voting 10 days before the election.

Yesterday, people came in whole families to cast their vote for one of the candidates. And immediately after the announcement of the closing of the voting, they began to open the ballot boxes. The counting was strict, since any ballots that had unregulated designations lost the chance to get into the stack of one of the candidates.

After the counting, the preparation of the final protocol began, including the final information on the number of those who voted and the votes cast for the candidates. Only after that, all the members of the commission signed their signatures, confirming the results of the elections at our polling station. I also put my signature, confident in the purity of the elections in which I took a direct part.

Bahargul Ashirova
teacher of D. Azadi TNIWL

Photo: author