Turkmen president says necessary to have multi-party system

ASHGABAT. January 21. KAZINFORM Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has ordered the country's parliament to speed up the work on the political parties bill.

"The right to organise political parties is a basic civil right," he said. It is necessary to "speed up the work on the bill on political parties and to unify the principles of formation of civil society's election institutions."

Over 20 years of Turkmenistan's independence, which is celebrated in the country this year, there has been only one party - the Democratic Party, which was organised in 1991 as the Communist Party ceased to exist.

Berdimuhamedov said for the first time in February of 2010 about the necessity of having a multi-party system, Kazinform refers to Itar-Tass, www.itar-tass.com .

"Turkmenistan develops democratically and should anybody initiate a new political party, we, in compliance with the Constitution, will register it the same year," he said adding that "it may be an agricultural or any other political party."

"It is only natural that new parties will take part in the social and political life and will compete with the Democratic Party," he said. "They must serve one common purpose - to provide that Turkmenistan gains a decent place in the international community and becomes a well-developed country."