The text of the Law of Turkmenistan on the Unified State Register of Voters has been published in Turkmenistan’s official print and electronic media.
The full text of the law is available here: https://www.turkmenistan.gov.tm/ru/post/97099/zakon-turkmenistana-o-edinom-gosudarstvennom-reestre-izbiratelej
The law establishes the legal and organizational foundations for creating and maintaining a Unified State Register of citizens of Turkmenistan who possess the right to vote in elections and referendums.
What Is the Unified State Register of Voters and Who Maintains It?
According to the text of the law, the Unified State Register of Voters is a centralized digital information system containing voter-related data. It is designed for storing, processing, and using such data and established to ensure the state’s systematic registration of voters.
The administrator of the State Register is the Central Commission for Elections and Referendums in Turkmenistan. The Commission oversees both the organizational and technological functioning of the Register, procures the necessary equipment and goods to operate the digital system, and ensures the accuracy of the personal data contained therein.
The Register is maintained by a special group established at the local executive authority level in districts and cities with district status—namely, the governorate.
What Data Is Included in the Unified State Register of Voters?
The database of the Unified State Register contains the following personal information about each voter:
- Surname, first name, patronymic, date of birth, place of birth, gender, and nationality.
- Voter’s electoral address — defined as the permanent or primary place of residence (registration) or temporary location. For voters residing or temporarily staying outside Turkmenistan, the electoral address is their postal address in the country of residence (or temporary stay).
- Voting location and conditions applicable to the voter.
Additional voter-related data may also be included in the Register, such as:
– Date of acquisition or termination of Turkmenistan citizenship
– Date of declaration of legal incapacity or restoration of legal capacity
– Date of release from correctional institutions
– Date of death
– Administrative note on the voter’s departure from a permanent or primary residence or temporary stay
– Administrative note on active military service
The Unified State Register of Voters, maintained in the official state language (Turkmen), will contain information about voters regardless of their permanent, primary, or temporary place of residence or registration.
A voter may be included in the Unified State Register only once, based on a single electoral address, and will be assigned to one electoral precinct accordingly.
Register data will be accessible to each voter. Voters are entitled to obtain from the responsible authority full information regarding their personal data included in the State Register.
How is Voter Data Used?
Personal data from the Unified State Register of Voters is used during the preparation of elections and referendums to compile preliminary voter lists at polling stations, as well as to generate statistical information on the quantitative characteristics of voters in a given territory.
The Central Commission for Elections and Referendums may also utilize the Register’s personal data to verify the accuracy of information regarding participants in citizens’ assemblies of Turkmenistan, where representatives are nominated to election commissions; on candidates running in elections; on national observers; and on members of initiative groups who endorsed candidates for the Presidential election or for conducting a nationwide referendum by signing signature sheets.
Basis for Inclusion in the Unified State Register of Voters
The basis for entering a voter’s record into the Unified State Register database is the submission of documents to the administering authority that confirm the individual’s acquisition of voting rights, in relation to the following circumstances:
- Reaching the age of 18
- Acquisition of citizenship of Turkmenistan
- Judicial recognition of legal capacity for a citizen previously excluded from the Register due to a ruling of incapacity
- Release from correctional facilities for an individual previously excluded from the Register due to a conviction involving imprisonment
- Identification of an individual not yet included in the Register who possesses the right to vote
Citizens not included in the registry may submit a written application with personal details and a copy of their Turkmenistan passport to the registry authority. For citizens abroad, applications are submitted through diplomatic missions or consulates, which forward them to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The registry database is updated every six months.
The creation, maintenance, and operation of the Unified State Register are funded by the State Budget of Turkmenistan./// nCa, 21 July 2025