First elections to a new Turkmen Parliament’s Chamber to be held on March 28
The first elections of members to the Halk Maslahaty of Milli Gengesh (National Council – Turkmen Parliament) will be held on Sunday, March 28. It is a representative body that exercises legislative power and consists of two chambers – the Halk Maslahaty and the Mejlis. Earlier, the Halk Maslahaty was the “highest representative body”, while the Mejlis was the parliament. The Halk Maslakhaty will have 56 members in total – 8 from each of the country’s provinces (velayat), 8 from the city of Ashgabat, who are elected by secret ballot at relevant meetings of the Halk Maslahaty of five provinces (velayats) and the city of Ashgabat, and another 8 members of the chamber are nominated by the President of Turkmenistan. Today, on March 26, the pre-election campaign ended. There are 112 registered candidates for members to the Halk Maslahaty, that is, 2-3 candidates run for each mandate of 48. According to the country’s Central Election Commission, about 26% of candidates are women. Six polling stations in the country announced their full readiness to hold the elections. The Halk Maslakhaty has the powers as follow: approve or reject the Constitution and laws adopted by the Mejlis; initiate national referenda; upon the proposal of the President of Turkmenistan, consider the issues of appointment and dismissal of the chairman of the Supreme Court of Turkmenistan, the Prosecutor General, the Minister of the Interior, the Minister of Justice; award the President of Turkmenistan with state awards, to assign him military and other state ranks; consider the issue of changing the state border of Turkmenistan; etc. The terms of office of members and deputies of the National Council of Turkmenistan are 5 years. The Constitutional Law “On Introduction of Amendments and Additions to the Constitution of Turkmenistan” came into force on January 1, 2021.
