Ashgabat, 03 July 2009 – The United Nations Development Programme in Turkmenistan and the National Institute for Democracy and Human Rights under the President of Turkmenistan conducted a one-day conference dedicated to international electoral standards and best practices within the framework of the joint project “Enhancing Electoral System and Processes in Turkmenistan”. The conference brought together representatives of the National Parliament, Turkmen Government, members of district and precinct election commissions as well as public organizations to kick-start a comprehensive assessment of national electoral legislation with the ultimate goal to align it with international electoral standards. 

“At present, national electoral legislation of Turkmenistan consists of many separate laws and regulations. What Turkmenistan aims now is to consolidate them into a single law. I hope that today’s conference will give an effective start to this process and that together with the United Nations Development Programme we will be able to come up with the Electoral Code by the end of 2011,” Shirin Akhmedova, director of the National Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, said in her opening remarks. 

“Electoral support is a key area of UNDP collaboration with the Government of Turkmenistan. Together with national partners we have already made much progress in introducing international standards in current electoral practices of Turkmenistan” said Richard Young, UNDP Resident Representative in Turkmenistan. He assured national partners of UNDP’s strong commitment to continue supporting Turkmenistan in its efforts to enhance electoral processes. 

The conference reviewed major electoral laws and regulations of Turkmenistan and listened to presentations by UNDP international consultants, Dr. Daniel Finn and Daniyar Ibragimov, on international electoral standards and practices and ethical norms for election officials.  

In his presentation on international standards of elections, Dr. Finn described how standards for democratic elections derive from international human rights law, particularly the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) that specifically guarantees the right of citizens to participate in public affairs, including through free elections. He also made some recommendations for amendments in national electoral legislation of Turkmenistan.  

Speaking about ethical norms for election officials, Mr. Daniyar Ibragimov highlighted internationally accepted norms that election officials should be guided by in their conduct of elections. These principles apply to all actors of election process and include such notions as neutrality, impartiality, transparency, professionalism, respect of law and other universally recognized principles. These norms form the Ethical Code for election officials the draft of which was developed by the UNDP project and presented to national partners.  

The conference concluded with discussions and exchange of views on the above presentations.  

As of today, the UNDP Project “Enhancing Electoral System and Processes in Turkmenistan” has implemented a wide range of activities in partnership with the Turkmen National Institute of Democracy and Human Rights and Central Election Commission (CEC) of Turkmenistan. They include training of all district and precinct election commission officials (over 18,000 people), educating over 20,000 voters on principles of democratic elections before the parliamentary election in December 2008. The project has also conducted trainings for election candidates and domestic observers ahead of elections to local councils in Turkmenistan.  

The UNDP Project “Enhancing Electoral System and Processes in Turkmenistan” was launched in 2008. The project is being jointly implemented by UNDP and National Institute of Democracy and Human Rights in response to the Turkmen government request. The project aims at providing technical support to the government of Turkmenistan with a view to deepening democratic processes and reforms pursued by Turkmenistan. The purpose of technical support is to expose the state institutions of Turkmenistan to relevant international experience to enhance the electoral system and processes in Turkmenistan.  

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