CENTRAL COMMISSION FOR HOLDING ELECTIONS AND REFERENDUMS IN TURKMENISTAN
On August 19 this year, the esteemed President of Turkmenistan held the 4th meeting of the Constitutional Commission for the improvement of the Constitution of Turkmenistan. Amendments and additions to the Constitution of our country and the transition to a bicameral parliamentary system have become the business of the entire Turkmen society, because in the era of democracy, this will open the way to perfection. With a request to tell us about this, we turned to the Secretary of the Central Commission for holding Elections and Referendums in Turkmenistan, Amangeldy Annadurdyev. Then he told us the following:
In the era of power and happiness, the work carried out under the wise leadership of the esteemed President to further democratize the country’s socio-political life, constitute the basis of the year “Turkmenistan - Homeland of Neutrality”. And the philanthropic constitutional reforms being carried out in our country, aimed at the bright future of our people, open a wide road for the comprehensive strengthening of the legal base and the democratic basis of our Motherland.
In his historic speech at the second meeting of the Halk Maslahaty of Turkmenistan held in September last year, the distinguished President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov came up with a new initiative to amend and supplement the Constitution of Turkmenistan related to improving the democratic principles of public administration. Taking into account the transformations taking place in the world and the experience accumulated in many countries, the initiative of our national Leader for the transition to a bicameral system and the inclusion of the Halk Maslahaty of Turkmenistan and the Mejlis of Turkmenistan in the system of organizations performing the functions of representative bodies of legislative power received the full support of the people. The main goal of this initiative is to ensure that the work of the legislative body of our country meets the modern requirements of the development of the Turkmen society, and increases the efficiency of legislative work. And also, taking into account the successes achieved in our society and world experience, to improve the work of the Halk Maslahaty and create a bicameral structure of the legislative body.
The transition of the National Parliament to a bicameral system is a sign of the development of popular representation, the triumph of democracy, political tranquility, and the unity of the people.
As the national Leader noted, the draft Constitutional Law “On Amendments and Additions to the Constitution of Turkmenistan” was developed as part of measures to change the structure, expand powers and further improve the functioning of the legislative body of our country. This will make our Constitution more effective and will allow us to successfully achieve the goals of legislative support for the comprehensive development of our society and state. Taking into account the tasks of creating conditions for the further democratization of public and state life in our country, a constitutional group was created, the composition of which was approved by the relevant document, to develop and generalize proposals for amendments and additions to the Constitution of Turkmenistan. Since then, several meetings of the Constitutional Commission and its working group have been held to amend and supplement the Constitution of Turkmenistan. After analyzing and discussing all the proposals, the draft Constitutional Law of Turkmenistan “On Amendments and Additions to the Constitution of Turkmenistan” was developed. At the suggestion of the President, the bill was published in the press and brought to the attention of the masses.
In his historic speech at the final meeting of the Constitutional Commission, the distinguished President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said: “Bringing the activities of the country’s legislative body in line with modern realities will allow the National Parliament to represent all strata of Turkmen society, solve urgent problems of the present time, radically improve the state of affairs in the development and implementation of laws. This will also create favorable conditions for establishing closer relations between voters and deputies, effective control over the implementation of laws and national programs. It will give an opportunity to bring the legislative activity of the Parliament to a qualitatively new level.” Also, during the meeting, it was especially emphasized that the Head of State provided all opportunities to study the opinion of the citizens of our country. In the draft Constitutional Law, prepared with the active participation of our people, fully supporting the initiative of our national Leader to improve the Basic Law, it is proposed to delete one article, add 3 articles and make appropriate amendments and additions to 27 articles. In this regard, the initiative of our Leader to strengthen the positions and expand the powers of the Parliament of our country caused a wide response from our people, once again the active participation with great interest of our people in the Constitutional reforms and their full support was emphasized. As a result of the state policy implemented by the head of state, based on the centuries-old principles of the Turkmen people - justice, equality, humanism, our people rallied even more around their President-Arkadag, which testifies to the triumph of the humanitarian principle “The State is for the people!”
Also during the meeting, the distinguished President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov signed a Resolution on approval of the draft Constitutional Law of Turkmenistan “On Amendments and Additions to the Constitution of Turkmenistan” and on its submission to the Halk Maslahaty of Turkmenistan. In accordance with the Resolution signed at these memorable historical moments, it was stated that the work on the draft Constitutional Law was completed as a whole. It is also expected that the draft resolution of the Constitutional Law “On Amendments and Additions to the Constitution of Turkmenistan”, which was discussed and supported with the active participation of our people, will be considered at the next meeting of the Halk Maslahaty in September this year, if approved, it was proposed to submit it for consideration Mejlis of Turkmenistan.
We wish our esteemed President, who is carrying out important reforms for the prosperity of our sovereign state, health, long life, further success in great deeds for the good of the people, country, as well as in matters of universal importance!
– Thanks a lot for the conversation!
The interview was recorded by H. Ovezov