VZCZCXRO9533
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHLZ
RUEHNEH RUEHPW RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHAH #1618/01 3531119
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 181119Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2012
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 4601
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 2405
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 2270
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL PRIORITY 2849
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE PRIORITY 3155
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 001618 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN; DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM TX
SUBJECT: TURKMEN CITIZENS' VIEWS ON WHETHER OR NOT TO VOTE 
 
¶1.  (U)  Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public Internet. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  SUMMARY:  December 15-18, poloff asked Ashgabat 
and Mary city residents about their participation in the 
December 14 Mejlis elections, to get a sense of how residents 
perceived the first major election since President 
Berdimuhamedov took office.  The individuals surveyed still 
generally viewed voting as more of a duty to country than a 
means to insure their representation in government.  For 
them, there was no connection between electing 
representatives and having someone represent their interests 
in central government.  For this and other reasons, everyone 
who commented on the election was apathetic about the process 
and its expected results.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  A middle-aged Ashgabat resident said she voted, 
although she had not seen any information about the 
candidates.  She asked election workers at the poll if they 
had biographical information on the candidates in her 
district, but they did not have such information inside the 
polling place.  (NOTE:  Large boards with information about 
the 18 candidates running in Ashgabat's election districts 
were seen in various places around the city, but were not 
outside of every polling station.  All candidate information 
was in the Turkmen language only.  END NOTE.)  She voted for 
the person who seemed the most distinguished in his previous 
position, which she could read on the ballot.  She saw only a 
handful of ballots in the transparent ballot box where she 
voted. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  A female resident in her twenties said she 
received an invitation to vote, but did not vote, and was not 
visited by election officials seeking her vote.  Her 
reasoning was that she hadn't known who her previous deputy 
had been, and he had never introduced himself to district 
residents or addressed issues specific to her neighborhood in 
Khitrovka.  She also noted that when any of the candidates 
spoke on Turkmen television, their comments were always 
non-specific in nature and generally referred to the 
President's stated reform plans. 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Another woman in her thirties said she had 
received an invitation as well as a call from election 
officials in her district, asking her to vote, and she 
decided to accommodate them.  She said she went to her 
polling station around 3:00 p.m., and was the only voter 
there.  She said the election officials were very attentive 
and pleased with her visit, and treated her like a "rare 
guest," offering her coffee or tea and reviewing the new 
voting instructions with her.  She noted that there were only 
a small number of ballots in the box when she put her ballot 
in.  A male resident in his early thirties said he did not 
vote because he had no interest in the elections.  He was 
certain that his parents had taken his passport and voted for 
him, because they "always did their duty." 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  A non-ethnic Turkmen woman in her forties said she 
had not voted, and expressed certainty that others in her 
apartment building also did not vote.  She indicated that, 
based on numerous conversations with fellow residents, and on 
the fact that no one had known anything about the previous 
Mejlis deputy that had been elected by their district, no one 
believed that a new deputy would play a more significant role 
in addressing issues of special interest to their district. 
She did not receive a knock on her door from district 
election officials seeking to collect her vote at home.  In 
contrast, she said that in early 2007, she and her fellow 
residents had voted in the presidential election, because 
they had shared some optimism that the election represented 
concrete change for the country.  In addition, being a dual 
Russian citizen, she had gone to the Russian Embassy several 
months ago to vote in the Russian presidential election.  She 
said she had done so because she had seen a lot of coverage 
on the candidates on Russian television, and because she felt 
that both the election and her vote mattered. 
 
ASHGABAT 00001618  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  A non-ethnic Turkmen in his sixties said he and 
his family and their friends and neighbors had ignored the 
election completely.  Although he had served as an election 
commissioner in the early 1990s, he did not think that the 
elections would bring any real change in those areas where it 
was needed.  He expressed frustration that he had seen no 
biographic or platform information in the Russian language 
for any of the candidates.  (NOTE:  Information on the 
candidates was published only in provincial newspapers in the 
Turkmen language.  Post knows of no venue where candidate 
information was published in other languages.  END NOTE.)  He 
pointed to the December 18 edition of Neytralniy 
Turkmenistan, and said he knew more about the Bulgarian 
President than he did about any of the Mejlis candidates. 
(NOTE:  The newspaper often publishes an official biography 
when heads of state visit.  END NOTE.)  Further, he doubted 
that any non-ethnic Turkmen citizens would be elected. 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  A taxi driver in the provincial center of Mary 
said he had voted for his whole family because he is the head 
of the household and that is their tradition.  When asked 
about his understanding of the duties and responsibilities of 
a Mejlis deputy, he confessed that he did not know, nor did 
he know the length of a deputy's term.  He also did not know 
whether a deputy elected in his district would represent the 
interests and concerns of district residents.  He had not 
seen any biographic information about the candidates in his 
district, so he looked at the addresses of the candidates 
listed on the ballot, and voted for the candidate who lived 
closest to him. 
 
¶9.  (SBU)  COMMENT:  All the individuals that poloff talked 
with expressed apathy about the elections.  In the absence of 
confidence that the elections would have even the potential 
to represent some form of change, most of these residents 
found other things to do on election day.  END COMMENT. 
MILES