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Turkmenistan creates new parliament chamber

By iNFOTEL
September 25 2020 10:16 AM

CP208995133 — In this image made from UNTV video, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, President of Turkmenistan, speaks in a pre-recorded message which was played during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, at U.N. headquarters in New York. The U.N.\'s first virtual meeting of world leaders started Tuesday with pre-recorded speeches from some of the planet\'s biggest powers, kept at home by the coronavirus pandemic that will likely be a dominant theme at their video gathering this year. (UNTV via AP)

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan – Turkmenistan’s authoritarian president, who has an unchallenged hold on power, on Friday signed a constitutional change to expand the country’s parliament to two chambers.

President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said the move was “yet another important step toward democratizing our country.”

But the newly created upper chamber of parliament membership won’t be chosen by voters. The leadership of each of the country’s regions will appoint members, and a seat is guaranteed for any former president.

The current unicameral parliament, which will become the lower chamber, is chosen in elections. However, Turkmenistan has no true political opposition. All the deputies elected in 2018 support Berdymukhamedov, who has established a pervasive cult of personality in the former Soviet republic since coming to power in 2006.

The constitutional change takes effect on Jan. 1, but it wasn’t immediately clear when the new chamber would be formed.

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