Turkmenistan to switch over to multi-party system.

14/5 Tass 158
ASHGABAT, May 14 (Itar-Tass) - The elders of Turkmenistan have
approved a proposal voiced by Turkmen President Gurbanguly
Berdymukhammedov who suggested a transition from a one-party to a
multi-party system in the country.
The elders backed the proposal at an annual meeting of the Elders'
Council that opened on Friday. President Berdymukhammedov has instructed
the Turkmen parliament to draft a bill on political parties.
The Elders' Council that met in the regional centre of Dashoguz
focused on developing the country's agriculture and raising the
effectiveness of grain harvesting and cotton production. The rural
population accounts for more than 60 percent of the overall Turkmenistan's
population.
Turkmenistan has known only one party in its history as an independent
state - the Democratic Party, created after the Communist party dissolved
itself in 1991. The Turkmen presidents were traditionally elected leaders
of the Democratic Party which membership was never more than 150,000.
In August 2007, Berdymukhammedov was elected Chairman of the
Political Council of the Democratic Party and the Galkynysh national
movement that united all the public organizations of Turkmenistan. "We do
not support the idea that parties should be created artificially, the
process should go ahead in a natural way," Berdymukhammedov used to say
when he was a candidate for the presidential post.
He abides by this position now after more than three years of
presidency during which the social, economic and legislative reforms were
carried out in the country, new gas pipelines to China and Iran were
built, the Academy of Sciences was restored, opera and circus returned
from oblivion, and the country began to live according to the Gregorian
calendar.
-0-ere


Delete & Prev | Delete & Next
Move to: