Turkmen Voters Sceptical Ahead of Polls
Wednesday, 10 December, 2008
Turkmen Voters Sceptical Ahead of Polls
Wednesday, 10 December, 2008
The scepticism on the ground stands in stark contrast to a report produced on December 8 by election monitors from the Commonwealth of Independent States, CIS, which amounted to a resounding accolade for the conduct of the election campaign.
The CIS interim report praised every aspect of the electoral process, claiming the authorities had made it possible for candidates to campaign freely and for voters to make informed choices.
Everything was in place for an “open and democratic” election, the report said.
This election is the first to take place under the recently-adopted constitution, and the main change is that candidates are running for 125 seats in the Mejlis instead of the previous 65.
A total of 288 candidates have been registered. NBCentral Asia analyst say the fact that there is a choice is a good thing, and they are also gratified that foreign observers have been allowed into the country, for the first time ever.
Yet it would be unwise to raise unrealistic hopes, since the electoral process has been carefully orchestrated from the start, analysts say.
A source in government said none of the candidates is on the list by chance – all have been screened and vetted thoroughly ensure they are completely loyal to the powers that be.
Most are members of either the Democratic Party – the only legal party – or of the Galkynysh (Revival) movement, which is controlled by the authorities.
“There is no real choice,” said the government source. “The authorities will be content with any of the candidates who get elected to the Mejlis.”
Commentators in Turkmenistan say the nomination process was no more than a formality, campaigning has been low-key, voter meetings have attracted little public interest, and few people harbour hopes of a free and democratic election.
“Under [the late president Saparmurat] Niazov, fabricated results, ballot-box stuffing, fraud, and total control over everything that went on in the country were standard practice, and people lost all hope of being able to change the situation,” said a commentator in eastern Turkmenistan.
All past elections have been notable for the lack of international monitors, practices such as allowing people to vote on behalf of family members, and direct supervision of the electoral process by officials. Afterwards, the authorities claim that voter participation was high, and turnout close to 100 per cent.
“The current authorities are likewise going to ensure their candidates get through,” said a pensioner from Abadan in central Turkmenistan, who served on a local election commission some years ago. “Even if turnout is low, a high percentage will [be shown to] have voted.”
This man said that he was well acquainted with the full panoply of techniques used for “ballot-rigging and machinations”, and that they would be employed in this election, too. For that reason, he said, he would not be going to vote.
Other potential voters expressed similar views.
Serdar, a 38-year-old man from the capital Ashgabat, estimated that about half the electorate would boycott the election because the campaign had been unfair.
“If we haven’t nominated our candidates and we don’t support them, why should we vote for people who have been imposed on us?” he asked.
Jahan, a 18-year-old student at an Ashgabat university for whom this is the first opportunity to vote, said she doubted her ballot paper would have any impact on the results.
“My mum says I shouldn’t vote, because elections in Turkmenistan have never meant anything,” she said.
(NBCentralAsia is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service is resuming, covering Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.)
