Turkmenistan

While the election laws of Turkmenistan recognize a number of important basic principles pertaining to the conduct of elections, such as the universal, direct and equal right to elect by secret ballot, the election legislation overall does not constitute a basic framework for democratic elections. A number of crucial aspects of the election process are regulated inadequately or not at all in the legislation. The simplicity of the legislation suggests that it could hardly cope with the complex issues and difficult decisions which arise in genuinely contested elections.