Parliamentary election in Turkmenistan in 1994
The parliamentary election in Turkmenistan in 1994 was the first of its kind in the independent state of Turkmenistan and was held on December 11, 1994 . The 50 MPs in the Turkmenistan Assembly were elected .
Electoral system
The parliamentary election was held as a majority vote in 50 constituencies. To enter parliament, a candidate needed at least 50% of the votes cast in his constituency. Due to the lack of competition and the mostly clear results in the electoral districts, such a majority for a candidate was always achieved in the first ballot. The Turkmen electoral system was based on the suffrage of the young state of Turkmenistan, which was officially adopted on May 12, 1994. With the parliamentary elections in 1994, the Supreme Soviet was replaced as the legislative body and replaced by the new parliament in accordance with the Turkmen constitution.
Candidates
The field of candidates was thinned out early on by the absolute suppression of all opposition. Opposition parties and their candidates face political persecution in Turkmenistan and have not been registered for parliamentary elections. In the 50 electoral districts, therefore, only 54 candidates applied for the 50 mandates, ultimately only 51 candidates were admitted, so that in 49 of the 50 electoral districts only one candidate stood for election. The candidates all belonged to President Saparmyrat Nyýazow's Democratic Party of Turkmenistan , the successor to the Communist Party.
Election result
The result of the parliamentary elections in Turkmenistan was already known in advance due to the limited field of candidates, so the entry of 50 candidates from the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan into the Assembly of Turkmenistan was no surprise. The voter turnout was given as 99.77%.
| Political party | Seats |
|---|---|
| Democratic Party of Turkmenistan | 50 |
| Independent | 0 |
| total | 50 |
The newly composed assembly of Turkmenistan consisted of 41 male and nine female MPs.
rating
According to the criteria of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe , the election clearly missed the criteria for a free and fair democratic election in all respects. With the exclusion of the opposition from the elections and the official election results above 90%, the election joined the tradition of Soviet elections. The power position of the Turkmen President Niyazov, known as Turkmenbashi, was strengthened again by the parliamentary elections. From the Turkmen side, the election was interpreted as proof of the democratization of the country.
Individual evidence
- ^ Voting For The Unknown In Turkmenistan. Retrieved April 1, 2020 .
- ^ The 1995 OSCE Meeting on Human Dimension Issues . Washington DC January 1996, p. 44 .
- ↑ TURKMENISTAN: parliamentary elections Majlis, 1994. Retrieved on April 1, 2020 .
- ^ Helsinki Commission (ed.): Report on the Parliamentary Election in Turkmenistan . Washington DC February 1995.
