Parliamentary Elections, 15 December 2013

Following an official invitation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan to observe the upcoming parliamentary elections due to take place on 15 December 2013, and in accordance with its mandate and the findings of a Needs Assessment Mission, the OSCE/ODIHR has deployed an Election Assessment Mission (EAM).  

The OSCE/ODIHR EAM, headed by Ambassador Alexandre Keltchewsky, began work on 3 December. The EAM includes 15 international staff, drawn from 14 OSCE participating States.

The mission will assess these elections for compliance with OSCE commitments and other international standards for democratic elections, as well as national legislation. Observers will, in particular, look into issues such as the legal framework, political party and campaign finance, as well as media coverage of the campaign.

In line with ODIHR’s methodology for assessment missions, the mission will not carry out systematic or comprehensive observation of the voting, counting and tabulation on election day. Mission members will, however, visit a small number of polling stations to follow election day procedures.

The mission will remain in Turkmenistan until 19 December and will issue a final report approximately two months after the completion of the election process.

Previous Elections

The OSCE/ODIHR has not previously observed or assessed elections in Turkmenistan, although it conducted Needs Assessment Missions for parliamentary elections in 1999, early parliamentary elections in 2008 and for presidential elections in 2012.