CENTRAL COMMISSION FOR HOLDING ELECTIONS AND REFERENDUMS IN TURKMENISTAN
The main purpose of voter registration – is to compile voter lists to ensure the participation of citizens in the elections, without forgetting about anyone, including all citizens in the voter lists – 100% who have the right to vote. The organized and proper conduct of these activities ensures that elections conducted in a democratic environment.
When registering voters at their place of residence, information about citizens who have right to vote must be recorded with the utmost accuracy and correctness based on their passports. This is important and significant for the proper formation, maintenance and management of the Unified State Register of Voters.
The voter lists used for voting must correspond to the current data on citizens.
The process of compiling voter lists – is regulated by the relevant articles of the Electoral Code of Turkmenistan, the Law of Turkmenistan “On the Unified State Register of Voters” and relevant regulations. In fact, accuracy means ensuring the authenticity and reliability of all information in the voter lists. To ensure accuracy, the following actions and procedures are usually widely used:
– authentication of the identity of a registered voter;
– verification of the accuracy of the voter’s electoral address and his residence at the electoral address;
– adding to the list of voters a new (current) electoral address of voters, who were previously registered and changed their electoral address;
– removal of duplicate personal data from the voter list;
– exclusion from the list of voters of persons who have died, disappeared or lost their citizenship of Turkmenistan, who are serving a prison sentence, who have been declared legally incompetent and who do not have the right to vote for other reasons (in this case these actions are carried out on the basis of documents received from the relevant state bodies);
– make sure that the person who submitted the application for registration or modification of their personal data has provided all the necessary complete and reliable information.
In international practice, there are various methods to ensure that all changes to the voter register made in a timely manner. In particular, the manual introduction of changes to the Unified State Register of Voters based on official data from relevant government agencies. Alternatively, automatic changes to data using special software, when government agencies are connected to the Unified State Register of Voters via the Internet and use special software, for example, automatic exclusion from the register of voters of persons who do not have the right to vote or automatic inclusion in the register of voters of citizens who have the right to vote.
As a rule, number of voters at one polling station tends to increase from year to year. However, in some cases number of voters may decrease compared to the previous one.
The procedure for voter registration varies from country to according to its legislation. In some countries, the deadline for voter registration is set during the election campaign, after which the register of voters is closed and no one is entered into it and in some cases – it is entered by court order. In some countries, the deadline also includes election day.
International experts from the Bureau for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe propose legislatively setting a fixed deadline for closing voter lists, while additional entries should be allowed only in accordance with clearly defined legal requirements and under judicial supervision.
In addition, in order to ensure the possibility of voters participating in voting, specified period should be aimed at creating conditions for the registration or updating of information of as many voters as possible, as well as for the exclusion from the list of those who have lost the right to vote.
Thus, list of voters – is the main document for holding voting in elections and summarizing its results.
Amangeldi Gandymov,
Deputy chairman of the Central commission for holding elections and referendums in Turkmenistan.