Turkmenistan's Central Election Commission recognized the elections to the Mejlis (Parliament) as valid, Chairman of the Central Election Commission for Elections and Referenda in Turkmenistan Gulmurat Muradov told reporters on Monday.
"The Central Election Commission of Turkmenistan has recognized the March 26 elections of deputies to Turkmenistan's parliament, members of the Khalk Maslakhaty [people's councils] and gengesh [local self-government bodies] as having been held in accordance with the law <...>," he said.
Muradov noted that 3,185,763 of 3,496,475 registered voters in Turkmenistan voted, or 91.12%. He also added that voting is still going on at polling stations in diplomatic missions abroad, where around 13708 people are expected to vote. As of March 26, when polling stations in Turkmenistan closed at 7 p.m. local time (5 p.m. Moscow time), 12300 people had voted outside the country.
Muradov noted that the CEC will announce the final turnout in accordance with the legal requirements. The agency has seven days for that.
Deputy Chairman of the CEC of Turkmenistan Amangeldy Gandymov earlier noted that the country's legislation doesn't set any threshold of voter turnout, and the elections are considered valid for any number of voters. Turnout in the last Mejlis elections in 2018 was 91.75%.
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Photo: Kerri-Jo Stewart/Creative Commons 2.0
Based on materials from TASS