Democratic Party of Turkmenistan

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The Democratic Party of Turkmenistan (Turkmen: Türkmenistanyň Demokratik partiýasy) (TPD) is a political party in Turkmenistan. The party was led by former Soviet provincial Party leader Saparmurat Niyazov from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s until his death in 2006. In 2013 President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow suspended his party membership for the duration of his presidency.^[1] The current leader is Ata Serdarov.^[2]

The DPT was created following the dissolution of the Soviet Union as a successor party to the Communist Party of the Turkmen SSR. The internal structure of the old party was effectively unchanged in the transition, as was the old guard. The DPT has faced limited and sporadic challenges from alternative political parties in the past but have never faced a significant challenge during an election because of the often repressive nature of politics in the country. Opposition parties are usually crushed before they make any significant grounds in public opinion. This has been the case even after the formal legalization of opposition parties in 2010.

Due to the lack of opposition parties to contest for government, the DPT controls most, if not all, industries of significant revenue directly. Central planning is a key element of party policy and serves as the basis of functionality for government services. The party's ideology of "Turkmen nationalism" was theorized by former party leader Saparmurat Niyazov for the purpose of an authoritarian state ideology in Turkmenistan.^[3]

Turkmenistan elects on the national level a head of state - the president - and a legislature. The Elections in Turkmenistan have been widely criticized for being completely fraudulent and attempting to give an appearance of legitimacy to what is in reality a dictatorship.

The Assembly is a 50 member legislative body officially led by the President of Turkmenistan. The DPT, not unlike every other facet of political life in Turkmenistan, holds a majority of seats, with accusations that the "multi-party system" established in the early 2010s only consists of parties loyal to the DPT. The last election for the assembly was held in 2013 where the DPT received 47 out of the 125 seats available with a claimed voter turnout of 91.33%.

• Elections in Turkmenistan
• People's Council of Turkmenistan
• Assembly of Turkmenistan
• Politics of Turkmenistan

• Country Studies accessed on 31 July 2008
• Badykova, Najia (2004-06-18). "The Turkmen Economy: Challenges and Opportunities". St Antony's College, University of Oxford. Retrieved on 31 July 2008.
• BBC: Turkmenistan's 'sham poll' closes. Sunday, 19 December 2004, 17:22 GMT