The working group, formed under the resolution of the Mejlis, studied, analyzed and summarized thousands of proposals received.
On August 19, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov held a meeting of the Constitutional Commission to develop and summarize proposals on amendments and additions to the Constitution of Turkmenistan. A member of the Working Group who prepared the draft Constitutional Law «On Amendments and Additions to the Constitution of Turkmenistan», Doctor of Law, Honored Lawyer of Turkmenistan, Professor Murad Khaitov told about the work done as a part of an interview to CentralAsia.news.
At the 4th meeting of the Constitutional Commission, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov reminded that the constitutional reform in the country was started on September 25, 2019, at a meeting of the Halk Maslakhaty.
— The key goal of the reforms is the modernization of the activities of the representative bodies of state power — the Halk Maslakhaty and the Mejlis. They will serve as the highest value of society and the state for a person, his interests; create a two-chamber body that realizes a legislative function; bring work of democratic institutions to a high level, — underlined the president.
Murad Ovezgeldiyevich, why does the state need a constitutional reform, and is it so important today?
The Constitution of Turkmenistan has been adopted 28 years ago. There have been many changes in the life of the Turkmen society and state. The Constitution sets new tasks, stimulates social and political activity. Today it is important to change the constitution and make it closer to modern requirements. It is a necessary step amid the formation of a two-chamber parliament. The reforms carried out in the political system and other spheres in recent years have led to the need to amend the Constitution of Turkmenistan. It is indeed the most important historical moment.
What are the pros of creating a bicameral parliament?
In fact, the formation of a two-chamber parliament requires an additional system of checks and balances in the legislative power. Today the effectiveness of the functioning of public authorities within the political modernization of Turkmenistan largely depends on how deep the constitutional principles will be integrated into the work of the institutions of representative democracy.
The constitution as a product of the state and society reflects the level of their development, the nature of its adoption and the activities of state power. Modern ideas on amendments and additions to the Constitution, constitutional norms and the foundations of democracy form the legal paradigm (model). They reflect and at the same time form a new concept of parliamentary construction in Turkmenistan. New ideas of the parliamentary system form new approaches to the formation of parliamentary democracy.
The draft Constitutional Law developed by the working group of the Mejlis states that «the parliament is a representative body that exercises legislative power in Turkmenistan». What does it mean?
The constitutional characteristic means that, on the one hand, the National Council — parliament (a single body) will carry out both representative and legislative functions. The representative function of parliament should be considered as the National Council (a nationwide forum), which is supposed to openly and publicly discuss the most important issues of state and public life of the country.
On the other hand, parliament is a legislative body whose activities are exclusively aimed at passing laws. Thus, the constitutional characteristic reflects an organic combination in a single body of two interrelated functions at the same time — representative and legislative.
The National Council of Turkmenistan (Parliament), as a national body, is created for the first time. To implement these functions, two independent chambers are formed — the Halk Maslakhaty and the Mejlis. The constitution establishes their exclusive powers. Other powers beyond the constitutional framework will be incorporated in the current law and the regulations of the chambers. Thus, constitutional «rationalization» will allow to optimally determine the sphere of jurisdiction of each chamber, taking into account the role, place and its importance in the structure of parliament.
The president of the country highlighted the activities of the Working Group created under the resolution of the Mejlis to gather, study, analyze, and summarize proposals. Murad Ovezgeldiyevich, tell us about the scope of work done as a member of the group.
It means a lot to get such an appreciation for the work from the head of the state. It will take a long time to tell about thousands of proposals the working group has received for consideration from various sources. It is nice to know that not only political or public organizations but ordinary citizens — elders, youth, representatives of the intelligentsia, and workers of various industries also take part in the political life of the country.
We paid attention to every single proposal. We analyzed and discussed all of them at regular meetings. The proposals and generalized structures have become the basis for the main draft of the Constitutional Law «On Amendments and Additions to the Constitution of Turkmenistan».
The working group held many offsite meetings in the provinces of the country.
