Turkmen Parliament's Upper Chamber Elected First Time After Constituional Reform

ASHGABAT — Citizens in Turkmenistan have voted in members of the parliament’s upper chamber, the People’s Council, for the first time since constitutional amendments in September 2020 made parliament bicameral.

State media outlets in the tightly controlled and extremely isolated former Soviet republic said that 112 registered candidates vied for the 48 seats available in the newly established parliamentary chamber, stressing that the elections were “fair” and monitored by “independent” domestic observers.

With a cult of personality around the 63-year-old authoritarian ruler, dissent is not tolerated in Turkmenistan and all media is under strict state control.

Voters on March 28 had only two hours to cast ballots, between the hours of 10 a.m. and noon, at six polling stations across the country — one in the capital Ashgabat and five in other regions.

Turkmen authorities declared within hours of the vote that turnout in the country of 5.8 million people was 98.7 percent of eligible voters.

Foreign observers were not allowed to monitor the polling stations and no opposition candidates were on the ballot in the Central Asian former Soviet republic, which is considered one of the most repressive countries in the world.

Results from the balloting have yet to be released.

With the exception of turning the parliament into the two-chamber institution, other details of the constitutional changes that the Central Asian nation’s authoritarian leader, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, signed into law in September remain largely unknown.

Berdymukhammedov initiated the constitutional changes in 2019 and led a commission he established that prepared a bill of amendments.

The People’s Council was created in 2017 on the basis of the Council of Elders. Berdymukhammedov was the body’s chairman.

Critics have said that Berdymukhammedov plans to use the constitutional amendments to secure his lifetime presidency — and for the eventual succession of his son and grandchildren.

Before the bill was signed into law last year, dozens of Turkmen citizens held rallies in Washington, as well as in the cities of Houston and Pittsburgh, protesting the plan.

Government critics and human rights groups say Berdymukhammedov has suppressed dissent and made few changes in the restrictive country since he came to power after the death of autocrat Saparmurat Niyazov in 2006.

Like his late predecessor, Berdymukhammedov has relied on subsidized prices for basic goods and utilities to help maintain his grip on power.