Turkmenistan has passed a law allowing citizens to form political parties, RIA Novosti reports.
Forming a party requires at least 9 people to establish an organizing committee. A party needs at least a thousand members with headquarters in Turkmenistan. A party is registered at the Ministry of Justice.
President Saparmurat Niyazov reorganized the Justice Ministry in 2003, authorizing it to control political parties.
Any Turkmen citizen aged 18 or over may become a party member. Servicemen, state functionaries and law enforcers are not allowed to join political parties.
President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov raised the issue of party formation in February 2010. The Council of Elders ordered the parliament to develop a law on political parties.
Turkmenistan has only one party, the Democratic Party, formed in 1991. It was headed by Saparmurat Niyazov. Berdimuhamedov started heading the party in 2006, after the death of Niyazov. Berdimuhamedov was elected president in February 2007.
