People's Council of Turkmenistan

The Halk Maslahaty ("People's Council") was the highest representative body in Turkmenistan. [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tx.html] The council had 2,507 members, some of whom were elected.

All candidates at the elections of 7 April 2003 (turnout 89.3%) belonged to the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan.

Like the Assembly, it was led by the President. This made him, effectively, the leader of both the legislative and the executive branches of government.

Turkmenistan's administration is based on Halk Maslahatys on different levels. Each province (welaýat) of Turkmenistan has its own, 80-member "welaýat halk maslahaty", whose members are elected directly in constituencies. Their influence is fairly limited even on paper and probably even more so in practice, taking into account that Turkmenistan is a one-party state ruled almost exclusively by its president. On lower administrative levels, district and city "halk maslahaty"s exist.The halk maslahaty system was abolished when Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedow introduced a new constitution in 2008, its powers being returned to the assembly ("parliament") of Turkmenistan and the President. [http://www.worldbulletin.net/news_detail.php?id=28836]

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