People's Council of Turkmenistan
Encyclopedia
The Halk Maslahaty was the highest representative body in Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan , formerly also known as Turkmenia is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic . Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states...

 (Article 45 of the 1992 Constitution
Constitution of Turkmenistan
The Constitution of Turkmenistan adopted on 18 May 1992 is the supreme law of Turkmenistan . In its preamble, the Constitution emphasizes self-determination for the Turkmen people, as well as the rule of law and rights for citizens. .The 1992 constitution was amended in 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2006...

). It was abolished in the new constitution of 2008.

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
Democratic Party of Turkmenistan
The Democratic Party of Turkmenistan is the only political party in Turkmenistan. The DPT was led by former Soviet provincial Party leader Saparmurat Niyazov from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s until his death in 2006...

. Like the Assembly of Turkmenistan
Assembly of Turkmenistan
The Assembly is the legislative branch of Turkmenistan. It has 125 members, elected for a five-year term in single-seat constituencies.- History :Originally, it shared power with the People's Council....

 (the parliament), it was led by the President, who was constitutionally the head of both the legislative and the executive branches of government.

Turkmenistan's administration was 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
Single-party state
A single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a type of party system government in which a single political party forms the government and no other parties are permitted to run candidates for election...

 ruled almost exclusively by its president. On lower administrative levels, district and city halk maslahatys exist.

The Halk Maslahaty system was abolished when President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow introduced a new constitution
Constitution of Turkmenistan
The Constitution of Turkmenistan adopted on 18 May 1992 is the supreme law of Turkmenistan . In its preamble, the Constitution emphasizes self-determination for the Turkmen people, as well as the rule of law and rights for citizens. .The 1992 constitution was amended in 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2006...

in 2008, its powers being returned to the Assembly and the President.
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