Prior to the celebrations of Turkmenistan’s 14th year of independence the 16th session of the Khalk Maslahaty was convened (please see ‘Nothing is forever, nobody is forever post 25/10/05). During the session a new law was passed which signalled some changes to the political organisation of the country. Most significantly, the president has changed the law so local officials will now be elected by the population rather than be appointed by himself.

There will be new 40-member ‘People’s Councils’ in every etrap (district) in Turkmenistan. The entire population of the etrap will elect the members to these Councils. The 40 members will then be charged with electing the mayor of the etrap. According to the law, arcins [heads of village councils] are directly subordinate to the mayor’s office of a district. The mayor’s office will be in charge of the implementation of resolutions of a district People’s Council and keep a record of its work. There will also be larger ‘Regional People’s Councils’ that will oversee the work of the Mayor’s office and etrap Council. It will be made up of 80 deputies and the entire population of a region, too, will elect them, from each town and village.

Such commitment to elections at the local level is quite a step. However, there is no certainty to how competitive they will be, or what it really means for the future of political development in the country. The President’s thinking on this is fairly straightforward and honest:

Please, go ahead and elect; elect the best and skilled ones, but the next day don’t come and complain to me that I appointed that person. In that case, I will say that it was your choice. You have a right to dismiss that person. These 80 people can gather and dismiss that person [presumably governor of a region] if he does not do his job well. There should be at least 2-3 candidates when electing officials and all three of them won’t be the same or possess the same skills.

In such a reformist and generous mood the president also announced changes to the way the parliament works. The Mejlis (parliament) has been considered for sometime, by western scholars, to be nothing more than a rubber stamp legislature beckoning to the call of the president. Its powers were further weakened some years ago when the Khalk Maslahaty took over some of its functions. However, according to the new law, passed by the Khalk Maslahaty, the national parliament is to have its powers raised and its number of deputies increased. The parliament’s duties have now been extended, according to the president:

Their duties will include controlling the work of regional People’s Councils, district People’s Councils, village councils as well as people’s representatives. They [parliament members] can also control the work of economic sectors by visiting them because we issue laws ourselves and we issue decrees ourselves too. We also determine the development of the economic sectors and society. If officials commit wrongdoings, then they will be accountable both before the parliament and the Cabinet of Ministers. Cabinet of Ministers and parliament should carry out a joint investigation and then inform the President of its results. It is their responsibility to correct the shortcomings and they should inform only after correcting. They should not switch to bribery by not correcting the shortcomings and not recommending dismissing that person.

Moreover, the number of deputies will be increased from 50-65.

Again, how significant these changes are will just have to be seen. But a firm commitment to the reorganisation of local government, the holding of elections (whether to western democratic standards or not) and a strengthening of the parliament’s powers, does suggest a shift in executive policy from the heightened centralisation of recent years. Only time will tell how this pans out in reality.

The elections will be held as follow:

Village councils and heads of village council’s mid-2006
District People’s Councils in December 2006
Regional People’s Councils in December 2007
Parliamentary elections in December 2008
Presidential Election December 2009???

Gundogar carries a comprehensive transcript of some of the discussions at this session of the Khalk Maslahaty, here.

And one last final thing, a new passport has been introduced for Turkmen citizens. The new passports will include biometric data – a digital photo and fingerprints – in line with international standards. Further details here.