I am happy to welcome all of you today and I would like to sincerely thank the Turkmen National Institute of Democracy and Human Rights under the President of Turkmenistan for hosting today’s conference. Electoral support is an important area of UNDP collaboration with the Government of Turkmenistan and I believe that, jointly with our national partners, we have made a big step forward in reviewing the electoral framework and introducing international standards in current electoral practices in Turkmenistan.
At the moment, Turkmenistan is in a unique position to strengthen its political system and democratic processes to ensure steady development of the country. The new Constitution adopted in September 2008 has provided a clear separation of powers and laid down the basic principles of the legal system that provides for rule of law, human rights and freedoms of citizens, thereby reaffirming Turkmenistan’s commitment to universally recognized norms and principles of international law.
In line with the economic and social reforms initiated by the President, the project jointly implemented by UNDP and Turkmenistan has made notable contributions to a review of the legal electoral framework and to introducing international standards in current electoral practices in Turkmenistan.
Under the project, a strong partnership has been developed between UNDP, the National Institute of Democracy and Human Rights and the Central Election Commission. This has resulted in the implementation of nationwide activities, including training of all district and precinct election commission officials (over 18,000 people), educating over 20,000 voters on principles of democratic elections. These activities took place prior to the parliamentary election in December, 2008. The project also successfully initiated a review and reform of electoral legal and institutional frameworks with the ultimate goal of adoption of the single, comprehensive Electoral Code of Turkmenistan by 2011.
In preparation for the local elections which will be held later this month, the focus of the project has been on increasing opportunities for candidates, mass media and domestic observers from public organizations, for effective participation in the electoral process. In this regard, trainings have been conducted for candidates and their representatives on platform development and constituency outreach activities, and for domestic observers in conducting observation in line with international practices and standards. The project has also completed trainings for mass media representatives at the national level in election broadcasting and media public information and voter education campaigns in Ashgabat.
In conclusion, let me say that I believe the current project on electoral support has already demonstrated positive results and we look forward to seeing its benefits during the upcoming local elections.
I would like to thank national partners, specifically the National Institute of Democracy and Human Rights and Central Election Commission for their great support and cooperation on this initiative.
Let me reiterate my strong commitment to supporting the development of electoral processes in Turkmenistan in line with international standards and, once again, thanks to all of you for participating this morning and I look forward to interesting presentations and a productive discussion.
Thank you.
Dear Colleagues, 