Ashgabat, 13 May 2010 – Twelve mid level electoral officials from all five provinces of Turkmenistan, as well as representatives of the Central Election Commission and the National Institute for Democracy and Human Rights are participating in the comprehensive five-day BRIDGE (Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections) training, which is a well-recognized capacity development resource for election commissions. The training is being conducted as part of the UNDP Project “Cooperation on Enhancing Electoral System and Processes in Turkmenistan” to equip electoral officials of Turkmenistan with skills and knowledge related to electoral processes and to expose them to international experience of election administration. The training will last until May 15.

Welcoming the training participants, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Turkmenistan Narine Sahakyan noted that electoral support is one of the key areas of UNDP cooperation with the Government of Turkmenistan, which is in tune with Turkmenistan’s efforts to enhance the capacity of election officials and part of the ongoing legal reform in Turkmenistan. “I believe that together with our national partners we have made a lot of progress in terms of enhancing the capacity of election stakeholders and those working on legal reform, and UNDP will continue supporting Turkmenistan in this important sphere,” Narine Sahakyan said.

Trainees are expected to subsequently train city/district level electoral officials in their respective provinces. In this regard, the interactive method of training allows the participants to quickly grasp the major principles of election administration and learn training techniques. The training is structured in such a way that it combines presentations and learning sessions, role-play games and discussions of issues that training participants may face with in their work. The training is being led by Shalva Tskhakaya, UNDP’s International Technical Expert on Elections, fully accredited BRIDGE Facilitator.

The training materials provide for learning the issues relating to the electoral principles, types of election commissions, responsibilities and functions of election officials, structures of election commissions, guiding principles for election commissions, ethics code, role and responsibilities of domestic and international observers, voter registration, education of voters of electoral processes through mass media as well as basic elements and strategies for further trainings. Many of topics were presented through international experience of election administration by example of Australia, South African Republic, Thailand, Nigeria, Poland and other countries.

The pool of trainees includes both long-serving and young staff of regional election commissions. According to Ismail Mamedov representing the Balkan province election commission, he is looking forward to sharing the literature and skills gained during training with his colleagues at the district level in the course of similar trainings that he will conduct in the coming month.

“These are 6 city and 6 district elections commissions totaling approximately 20 staff. I will bring to their attention all BRIDGE materials. What is also important is that along with relevant skills I learned the techniques of training that combine interactive methods such as energizers. Trainings also require patience and self-confidence. On top of that, one needs to understand what is the final goal of BRIDGE  exercise, which I am sure is now clear to everyone of us here,” he said.

The UNDP project “Enhancing Electoral System and Processes in Turkmenistan” 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.