Ashgabat, 12 May 2010 – A group of Turkmenistan’s election stakeholders has recently returned from a study tour to Hungary where they got acquainted with Hungarian election administration experience. The tour was organized by the UNDP Project “Enhancing Electoral System and Processes in Turkmenistan” to support Turkmenistan’s efforts to enhance its capacity for election administration. The delegation of Turkmenistan was comprised of members of the Mejlis, the National Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, Central and regional election commissions who were admitted to observe the 2^nd round of parliamentary elections in Hungary.

In the course of the visit, members of the delegation familiarized themselves with the electoral system of Hungary as well as the system of work of the one-chamber Parliament of Hungary. The Turkmen delegation held a number of meetings, among them with the Secretary General of the Association of European Election Officials;  the Head of the National Election Office; representatives of the Ministry of Local Governance; the President of the Center for Independent Journalism; law experts of the Ministry of Justice, Law and Order; representatives of the Center of Police Academy, the Director of Freedom House Europe; Head of the Administrative Board of the Supreme Court of Hungary; vice-president of the Institute of Democratic Changes, and the Director of Opinion Research Organization.

The delegation of Turkmenistan was accredited by the National Election Commission to observe the second round of Hungarian parliamentary elections. The delegation visited several polling stations in Budapest and neighboring town Estergom to see the opening and closing of polling stations as well as the process of vote count. Members of the delegation also had the opportunity to observe the voting procedures during elections.

Concluding the visit, members of the delegation of Turkmenistan noted that the study tour was a good opportunity to learn some electoral practices that could be applicable in the context of Turkmenistan. For example, members of the delegation highly rated the approaches of the Association of European Election Officials towards increasing awareness and electoral education of young people in general and first time voters in particular. The delegation also noted the advantages of information technologies in the voting procedures, as well as the importance of mass media in electoral processes to maintain efficient communication between electoral bodies and general public. To this effect, the role of Internet as one of the major tools of mass media was also noted.

This is the second study tour for election stakeholders of Turkmenistan organized as part of the UNDP project “Enhancing Electoral System and Processes in Turkmenistan”. The project was launched in 2008. The project is being implemented by UNDP in partnership with the National Institute for Democracy and Human Rights with the financial support of the Government of Norway. It aims to provide technical support to the government of Turkmenistan with the view of 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.