ASHGABAT, March 27. /TASS/. Turkmenistan’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has recognized the country’s Mejlis (parliament) elections as legitimate, the commission's head Gulmurat Muradov told reporters on Monday.
"The Central Election Commission of Turkmenistan has recognized the holding of the March 26 elections of the delegates of Turkmenistan’s parliament, members of the Halk Maslahaty (people’s councils - TASS) and Gengeshi (local government bodies - TASS) <…> as valid in accordance with law," he said.
The official noted that out of the total 3,496,475 registered voters in Turkmenistan, 3,185,763 had voted, a turnout of 91.12%. He also added that voting was still underway at polls at diplomatic missions abroad where 13,078 people were expected to vote. As of 7 p.m. local time (5 p.m. Moscow time) on March 26, when the polls closed in Turkmenistan, 12,300 voters had cast their ballots abroad.
Muradov pointed out that the commission would announce the final turnout in accordance with the law within seven days.
As Deputy Chairman of Turkmenistan’s Central Election Commission Amangeldy Gandymov noted earlier, the republic’s legislation does not have a turnout threshold and elections are deemed valid with any number of voters. The turnout for the last Mejlis election in 2018 was 91.75%.