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Voting in parliamentary elections starts in Turkmenistan

All three political parties of the country take part in the parliamentary elections

ASHGABAT, March 26. /TASS/. Elections of deputies of the Mejlis (parliament) of the 7th convocation, as well as members of the people's councils of regions, districts, cities and local self-government began in Turkmenistan on Sunday. At 07:00 local time (05:00 Moscow time), 2,602 polling stations opened across the country.

Voting will go until 07:00 p.m. (05:00 p.m. Moscow time). After its completion, the members of the election commissions will start counting the votes. The country’s Central Election Commission (CEC) traditionally sums up the preliminary results on the next day after the voting, the final results - no later than seven days after the elections.

All three political parties of the country take part in the parliamentary elections in Turkmenistan: the Democratic Party, the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the Agrarian Party, as well as initiative groups of citizens.

In total, the citizens of the country are to elect 125 deputies of the Mejlis. The number of registered candidates is 258.

The previous elections to the Mejlis of Turkmenistan were held on March 25, 2018. The turnout reached 91.75%.

Since that time, Parliament has undergone organizational changes. In September 2019, then-President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow (in office 2007-2022) initiated the transition of the parliament to a two-chamber system, which has been in effect since 2021. In January of this year, he again initiated changes, proposing a return to a one-chamber parliament and at the same time creating the highest representative body of power - the Halk maslahaty (People's Council). The relevant laws were signed by President Serdar Berdimuhamedow.