Turkmenistan · Government
Government and administration in Turkmenistan
How the executive, legislature and administrative state are organised, and which body is responsible for what.
The three branches
- Head of state and government — President
- Also chairs the Cabinet of Ministers; seven-year term with no upper age limit since 2016.
- National leadership — Halk Maslahaty
- Supreme representative body re-established in 2023, chaired by the National Leader of the Turkmen People.
- Executive — Cabinet of Ministers
- Chaired by the President; there is no separate prime ministership.
- Legislative — Mejlis
- Unicameral, 125 members; also determines the constitutionality of normative acts.
- Judicial — Supreme Court and lower courts
- All judges are appointed by the President for five-year terms.
How legislation is made
Bills are introduced by the President, deputies of the Mejlis, the Cabinet of Ministers or the Supreme Court. The Mejlis considers and adopts them, and the President signs and promulgates. Because the President chairs the Cabinet and appoints the judiciary, and because the Mejlis has never rejected a presidential initiative, the process functions as promulgation rather than deliberation. There is no published mechanism for public consultation on drafts and no committee evidence-taking in any accessible form.
Enforcement institutions
- Ministry of Internal Affairs
- Police, migration registration and traffic enforcement.
- Prosecutor General's Office
- Prosecution and supervision of legality; the principal channel for complaints in practice.
- Ministry of National Security
- Security service; successor to the republican KGB.
- Ombudsman for Human Rights
- Established in 2017; reports annually to the President and the Mejlis.
- State Service for Combating Economic Crimes
- Financial and corruption investigations.
Government bodies and regulators
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