The Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Sergei Lebedev, will lead the mission of observers from the CIS in the elections of deputies of the Mejlis of Turkmenistan, reports the press service of the CIS Executive Committee.

His candidacy was approved by the Council of Permanent Plenipotentiary Representatives of the Commonwealth Member States to the statutory and other bodies of the Commonwealth.

Elections of deputies of the Mejlis of Turkmenistan are scheduled for March 26, 2023. On the same day, elections of members of the velayat, etrap and city halk maslahaty of the fifth convocation, as well as members of the Gengeshes of the ninth convocation, will also be held in Turkmenistan.

The mission of observers from the CIS will monitor the electoral campaign at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan.

The work of the mission will be built, as in the period of previous campaigns, on the principles of political neutrality, non-interference in the electoral process and in the internal affairs of the state, strictly in accordance with national legislation.

Let us remind that in the last parliamentary elections held in Turkmenistan in 2018, 284 candidates competed for 125 seats in the Mejlis. 168 of them were nominated by three political parties - the Democratic Party, the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the Agrarian Party. The remaining 116 candidates ran from groups of citizens.

Also read:

• Parliamentary elections in Turkmenistan will be held on March 26, 2023