This upcoming elections

Turkmenistan is scheduled to hold its next elections to parliament, the Mejlis, on 19 December 2004, though these are widely deemed farcical due to the circumstances in which they are being held. Exactly when the next presidential elections will be held is difficult to predict. President Saparmurat "Turkmenbashi" Niyazov has variously mentioned 2007, 2008, and 2010 as possibilities, but Niyazov has the status of president for life so there is no obligation so long as he is alive. Previous parliamentary elections in independent Turkmenistan in 1994 and 1999 were of little value. There is only one officially registered political party in the country -- the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan (DPT) -- the heir to the Communist Party of the Soviet era. Niyazov, whose days of leadership find their beginnings in the Soviet era, is the DPT's chairman. There was an indigenous opposition party, Agzybirlik, which was founded in the last days of the Soviet Union. Agzybirlik was never registered after Turkmenistan became independent and its leadership has since either fled the country or is currently under virtual house arrest. There are also several opposition parties and movements in exile. In the 1994 parliamentary elections, 51 candidates vied for the 50 seats in the Mejlis. In 1999, 103 candidates competed for those 50 seats. The vast majority of winners in both elections were from the DPT and there were questions about how "independent" the independent candidates that won the few remaining seats really were. This upcoming election is distinguished from previous parliamentary elections in Turkmenistan in that it holds even less relevance. The Turkmen parliament has been known for being a rubber-stamping body since independence in 1991.