VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAH #1210/01 3280337
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 240337Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 8027

UNCLAS ASHGABAT 001210 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE; SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN (PERRY), SCA/PPD, EUR/ACE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ETRD TX TNGD KPAO ECON
 
SUBJECT: STAGE ONE OF TURKMENISTAN'S NEW ETRAP ELECTIONS 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1.  (U) The initial stages of Turkmenistan's first ever etrap and 
city halk maslahaty (peoples council) elections suggest a process 
that, while perhaps more a theatrical exercise than a substantive 
political process, is progressive in tone and provides a snapshot of 
grassroots level political expectations in Turkmenistan.  Emboff met 
on November 2 with Mary Welayat's deputy hakim, and regional and 
etrap/city level election commissions, to observe a candidate 
nomination meeting and the candidate registration process.  (Note: 
November 2 was the last day for candidate nominations for the 
December 3 elections.  End Note.)  While government officials 
appeared well-versed in the law and election regulations, the 
nominations meeting revealed the public's and government officials' 
lack of understanding of the purpose of these elections and 
suggested that the process has been rigged.  End Summary. 
 
MEETING AT HAKIMLIK HEADQUARTERS 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) The energetic Deputy Hakim of Mary Welayat Shirin 
Toychiyevna Ahmedova directed three tightly choreographed official 
meetings that prevented substantive interaction between Emboff and 
participants.  Ahmedova, the chair of the regional election 
committee, presided over an initial meeting at the hakimlik 
headquarters.  Assembled there were the eleven regional election 
committee members, including representatives of the hakimlik, local 
branch of the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan, Youth Union, Women's 
Union and Labor Union, Mary Textile Factory, education department 
and a local school.  A lawyer by training, Ahmedova hit Emboff with 
a barrage of facts, figures and colorful anecdotes in a focused 
effort to prove her thesis that Turkmenistan "has always had 
democracy" and the democratic urge though this is the first time 
locals have had the right to elect their city and etrap Halk 
Maslahatys (People's Councils).  (Note:  Despite her insistence that 
Turkmenistan needed no tutelage on democracy from foreigners, 
Ahmedova later in the day suggested to Emboff that the Embassy 
should sponsor a training program in the United States for Turkmen 
officials to learn about the elections process in the United States. 
 End Note.) 
 
MARY'S ACTIVE CITIZENRY 
------------------------ 
 
¶3.  (U) Following Ahmedova's "little lecture," Emboff attempted to 
clarify some areas of the elections law and to get a sense of the 
issues of importance to local citizens in this election.  Ahmedova 
stated that candidates must be nominated by no fewer than 100 
individuals in the case of non-organization nominations, and that 
each individual registered at the nomination meeting to ensure 
participant minimums and that participants came from the district 
for which they are making a nomination.  Official groups are not 
held to the 100 participant minimum for a nomination meeting; rather 
their minimum is a quorum of organization members.  (Note:  Ahmedova 
did not address whether it was possible that an organization with a 
quorum of less than 100 people might legally nominate a candidate. 
End Note.)  Meetings organized by public associations are allowed to 
produce up to 10 candidate nominations, whereas meetings organized 
by "groups of citizens" may only produce one nomination. 
 
¶4.  (U) In response to Emboff's question about absentee ballots, 
Ahmedova stated that there was no allowance for absentee voting 
during the nominations process, but that it was available for the 
December 3 election. 
 
¶5.  (U) Organizations can gather together local citizens regardless 
of their organizational or professional affiliation.  In the case of 
Mary Welayat, citizens' meetings produced far more candidates for 
the elections (560) than did meetings organized by social 
enterprises (515).  Among social enterprises, labor unions nominated 
147 candidates, followed by the Democratic Party (143), Youth Union 
(85), Women's union (84), and Veteran's Union (56). 
 
¶6.  (U) In terms of candidate selection, Ahmedova stated that all 
nominees would publicize their platforms in the local media and in 
public meetings, and that a citizen's party was irrelevant in the 
candidate selection process.  At the nominations meeting later in 
the day, nominators and attestants dwelled on candidates' personal 
qualities rather than platforms.  Ahmedova speculated that citizens 
would be most concerned about public welfare, the cotton harvest, 
the textile industry, creating jobs, care for remote settlements, 
and accessibility of schools and healthcare. 
 
NOMINATIONS MEETING: SOMETHING SLIGHTLY OFF 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (U) In the afternoon, Ahmedova led Emboff and several of her 
election committee colleagues to a nominations meeting in Mary Etrap 
organized by the local branch of the national labor union; this 
representative was also chairing the meeting.  The official 
delegation sat in the front row of a room of exactly 100 locals, 
according to the meeting's chairman.  Ahmedova said at the morning 
meeting that a nominating meeting was not legal until and unless the 
organizers provided the elections commission with a list of meeting 
participants that included name, date of birth and propiska (place 
of legal residence).  Emboff did not see signs of participant 
registration but the start of the meeting had clearly been delayed 
until Ahmedova and mission representatives arrived, suggesting that 
the participants had been assembled a while before. 
 
¶8.  (U) One by one, the chairman invited to the front podium 
individuals nominating or attesting to the character of nominees. 
It was unclear in the first few cases whether those invited to the 
front had waved or in some other way indicated that they wished to 
be called; it appeared that their names had been predetermined. 
Reaching the maximum number of allowed candidates for a meeting 
initiated by a social enterprise, 10 candidates were nominated, one 
for each of the etrap's ten precincts, out of 14 considered 
candidates.  Thus in four cases the audience was called upon to vote 
for their preferred candidate.  Participants were to vote by raising 
their hand; a local official counted the votes and the chairman 
urged all present to vote once for each candidate.  There was no 
attempt to divide voting participants by district during this 
process, although nominees were nominated for a specific district. 
Thus citizens effectively had the right to vote for candidates in 
any district in their etrap. 
 
¶9.  (U) The majority of those nominating, attesting, and nominated 
were either educators or medical professionals, a fact Ahmedova 
noted to Emboff, explaining that "doctors and teachers are the 
elite" and therefore more likely to be aware of and participate in 
the elections process.  In many cases, a subordinate nominated or 
endorsed his or her supervisor, such as a nurse at the local clinic 
nominating the head doctor, or a teacher nominating her principle. 
Of the nominees, four were archyns (village council chiefs), one a 
district labor union chief, three were school or hospital directors, 
and one was a doctor.  In the case of the contested nominations, 
there was a significant difference in the professional rank of the 
candidates, such as a nurse against a doctor, or an archyn against a 
local technician, making the "best choice" obvious to the 
participants. 
 
CEREMONIAL REGISTRATION OF CANDIDATES 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶10.  (U). Also on November 2, Emboff traveled to Murgap Etrap to 
observe a ceremonial process by which candidates were registered. 
The regional representative of the National Democratic Party led 
Emboff into a small room in the Murgap Etrap Hakimlik office where 
the local elections commission and five local 
candidates-for-registration were already seated and waiting.  The 
chairman of the local election commission read out biodata and 
information about the circumstances of nomination of each of the 
seated candidates, and invited each to be registered as a candidate 
for his or her district.  The chairman stated that each of the forty 
etrap halk maslahaty seats to be contested in the December 3 
elections would be fought between the minimum two candidates, but 
that in three districts a race would occur between three candidates. 
 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶11.  (U) Despite the tight performance of November 2, technical 
ambiguities remained.  Among post's unanswered questions is a better 
definition of the purpose of the local halk maslahatys: while the 
national-level body acts as a legislature, the local bodies appear 
to be executive. 
 
¶12.  (U) Beyond the technical elements, the process bore the marks 
of a staged performance.  Emboff subsequently heard that Ashgabat 
teachers were gathered in mid-November by their directors, assigned 
fake names and addresses and told to attend a candidate rally 
organized by the city government.  As far as post knows, the event 
was organized only among and for the local citizenry, rather than 
for a visiting foreign observer.  One teacher was assigned the fake 
profession of plumber, perhaps to suggest that the "common man" also 
takes part in the elections.  Despite evidence of host government 
pressure, it is possible that the process may have the long-term 
benefit of educating participants about democratic electoral 
processes.  The presence of Emboff at the events November 2 seemed 
to puzzle local participants, suggesting that they could either view 
embassy interest as additional pressure to hew to the official line 
at an official event, or as cause to wonder why a western government 
takes interest in elections in Turkmenistan.  End Comment. 
 
BRUSH