Turkmenistan - 2013 Elections
Although the constitution declares Turkmenistan to be a secular democracy and a presidential republic, the country has an authoritarian government controlled by the president, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, and the Democratic Party. Berdimuhamedov remained president following a February 2012 election that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights determined involved limited choice between competing political alternatives. Authorities maintained effective control over the security forces. Security forces committed human rights abuses.
The three most important human rights problems were arbitrary arrest; torture; and disregard for civil liberties, including restrictions on freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and movement. Other continuing human rights problems included citizens’ inability to change their government; interference in the practice of religion; denial of due process and fair trial; arbitrary interference with privacy, home, and correspondence; discrimination and violence against women; trafficking in persons; and restrictions on the free association of workers.
Officials in the security services and elsewhere in the government acted with impunity. There were no reported prosecutions of government officials for human rights abuses.
The government held national parliamentary elections December 15, and for the first time a second political party, the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, competed for seats on a national scale. Turkmenistan formally invited the OSCE to send observers for the elections. While ODIHR’s August 2013 Needs Assessment Mission Report did not recommend the deployment of an election monitoring mission, ODIHR did send a 15-member Election Assessment Mission to further review the new legal and administrative framework for elections. The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly also sent a 12-member election assessment team with eight European parliamentarians, while the CIS sent 68 observers from nine countries.
The law makes it extremely difficult for genuinely independent political parties to organize, nominate candidates, and campaign, as it grants the Ministry of Justice broad powers over the registration process and the authority to monitor party meetings. The law prohibits parties based on religion, region, or profession, as well as parties that “offend moral norms,” advocate for violent change of the constitution, or speak out against the rights of citizens. The law does not explain how a party could appeal its closure by the government. The government allowed the OSCE to provide expert commentary on the law and implemented some changes to its criminal code.
State media covered the activities of President Berdimuhamedov, the Democratic Party, the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, and trade and professional unions.
There were no independent political groups. The two registered political parties included the ruling Democratic Party (the former Communist Party of Turkmenistan) and the progovernment Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, created in August 2012 following a presidential speech stating that such a party should be created. The government did not officially prohibit membership in political organizations, but there were no reports of persons who claimed membership in political organizations other than these two parties. Opposition movements based outside the country, including the National Democratic Movement of Turkmenistan, the Republican Party of Turkmenistan, and the Fatherland (Watan) Party, were not registered to operate within the country.
The Democratic Party of Turkmenistan (DPT) remained the largest force in the first multi-party elections since the country's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Two parties and five public organizations - all loyal to President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov - took part in the elections. The Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, formed by Mr. Ovezmammed Mammedov in August 2012, took 14 seats. Two major public organizations - the Federation of Trade Unions and Women's Union - took 33 and 16 seats respectively. Mr. Mammedov had won a by-election held in June 2013, becoming the first non-DPT parliamentarian.
Until the adoption of the Political Parties Act by the Assembly in January 2012, the DPT (formerly the Communist Party) had been the sole political party in the country. The President had headed the party, until August 2013 when President Berdimuhamedov resigned as DPT chairman for the duration of his presidential term in order to promote a multiparty system. Prior to the 2013 elections, he underscored "the need for strict control of the entire process of democratic elections, ensuring their openness and transparency".
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
