COORDINATOR ADAMS MEETING WITH CENTRAL ELECTIONS COMMITTEE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000145

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN (PERRY),SCA/PPD, EUR/ACE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV EAGR ECON ETRD TX TNGD KPAO
SUBJECT: COORDINATOR ADAMS MEETING WITH CENTRAL ELECTIONS COMMITTEE
CHAIRMAN GARRYEV

REF: ASHGABAT 117

Summary
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1. (SBU) Assistance coordinator Tom Adams and Central Elections
Commission Chairman Myrat Garryev discussed Turkmenistan's February
11 presidential elections in an hour-long meeting January 31.
Garryev, who was mostly affable and responsive, began to bristle
when Adams offered USG technical assistance to help Turkmenistan
attain internationally accepted standards in future elections.
However, he said Turkmenistan would be open to U.S. observations and
suggestions after the election. END SUMMARY.

Elections "Unprecedented"....
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2. (SBU) Garryev welcomed the visitors, noting that they had
arrived "at a very difficult time for us." He then briskly
explained how the six current candidates for Turkmenistan's
presidency -- one from each of its five welayats and from Ashgabat
-- were selected by plenary vote of the Halk Maslahaty's 2507
delegates out of the total of 11 names considered on December 26.
Noting that each candidate had a distinct, different background and
professional specialty, he volunteered that "the president has to
know all trades." (Comment: The garrulous Garryev clearly was
singling out acting president Berdimuhammedov, the candidate with
the most experience at the national level. End Comment)


3. (U) The fact of multiple candidates in a presidential election
was unprecedented for independent Turkmenistan, Garryev stressed.
This was due directly to Niyazov, who "introduced a new policy of
national democracy" in last year's local elections, wherein
typically four or five rivals contested seats. In Soviet days,
there were single candidates, for whom everyone had to vote
regardless. "I think we are following the right path."


4. (U) Responding to Adams' questions, Garryev replied that:

-- Campaign financing was 100 percent by the state. Funding support
from private individuals, companies or other interests was banned;


-- While they presumably consulted with their "home" welayats in the
process, the individual candidates were responsible for drawing up
their own platforms;

-- There was no polling activity as such, Turkmenistan being "still
a young democracy." Candidates' multiple meetings with voters
around the country had been a fair substitute for tapping public
attitudes;

-- The CEC approved 200 domestic election observers.

...But not up to International Standards
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5. (SBU) Adams then observed that some aspects of the current
election had aroused criticism abroad. If requested, the USG could
offer assistance to remedy shortcomings so that future elections
would satisfy such critics. "Criticisms from where?" was Garryev's
reaction, "From those who know us or from those who just hear about
us?" And what specific type of technical assistance was being
offered? These presidential elections were a novel event in
Turkmenistan's expanded democratic process, Garryev reiterated.
Turkmenistan had the responsibility for conducting them without
foreign aid. Problems might indeed transpire, but "judge us (only)
when we've done it."


6. (SBU) Asked by another U.S. delegation member what electoral
reforms the CEC plans between the presidential and next local
elections, Garryev responded "What (additional) reforms can we
conduct?" The very fact that the U.S. visitors were meeting with
the CEC chairman showed Turkmenistan's electoral reform was already
underway, he went on to assert. He then drew the metaphor of

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test-driving a brand-new car on the highway. Maybe the car would
break down, but as long as it was going smoothly "why should the
driver ask for help?" After several minutes of emphatic utterance
along these lines, Garryev made a point of returning to a completely
relaxed note. Once Turkmenistan's government had conducted and
itself evaluated the February 11 polling, it would be open to
considering U.S. observations and recommendations, he concluded.


Comment
--------------


7. (SBU) The CEC Chairman's performance from start to finish of
this meeting reinforced reftel's tentative conclusion: However
minimal the presence of true democracy in this election,
Turkmenistan's post-Niyazov regime probably does consider that it is
making good-faith gestures in the direction of "international
electoral standards" and may be stung if the outside world does not
give it credit for at least feebly distancing itself from previous
worse practices. END COMMENT.

BRUSH