The most im­por­tant socio-po­li­tical event in 2022 will be the electi­on of the Pre­si­dent of Turk­me­nis­tan. This event is of par­ticular sig­ni­ficance for the adop­tion of the new prog­ram­me document for the long-term develop­ment of our count­ry – “The Revival of the New Era of the Po­wer­ful Sta­te: The Na­tio­nal Prog­ram­me of the Socioecono­mic Develop­ment of Turk­me­nis­tan for 2022–2052 at the mee­ting of the Halk Mas­la­ha­ty of the Mil­li Gen­gesh of Turk­me­nis­tan on Feb­rua­ry 11. Our count­ry is en­te­ring a new pe­riod of its his­to­ry. Re­lying on the achievements of 30 years of sovereign develop­ment, the Turk­men peop­le will have to con­duct new lar­ge-scale and pro­found trans­for­ma­tions. The main­te­nance of peace, sta­bi­li­ty in society and na­tio­nal uni­ty is of ines­ti­mab­le im­por­tance along this path.

The Pre­si­dent of Turk­me­nis­tan em­bo­dies the uni­ty of the peop­le, en­su­res the imp­le­men­ta­tion of the do­mes­tic and fo­reign po­licies and rep­re­sents our sta­te on the in­ter­na­tio­nal are­na. In this re­gard, the pre­si­den­tial electi­on plays an im­por­tant po­li­tical ro­le as an in­teg­ral com­po­nent of de­mocracynd a the par­ticipa­tion of the peop­le in ma­king crucial decisions.

Du­ring the years of in­de­pen­dence de­mocra­tic princip­les and ins­ti­tu­tions of po­wer have not on­ly firm­ly es­tab­lis­hed in the li­fe of our society and sta­te, but al­so acqui­red their own forms and con­tent. With the dee­pe­ning of de­mocra­tic trans­for­ma­tions of the po­li­tical sys­tem, na­tio­nal tra­di­tions and the his­to­rical expe­rience of de­mocracy have develo­ped furt­her.

Mo­reover, a high po­li­tical cul­tu­re has for­med in society. Un­der the inf­luence of de­mocra­tic proces­ses, every citi­zen of our count­ry is clear­ly awa­re of his or her involvement and per­so­nal res­pon­si­bi­li­ty for the fa­te of the in­de­pen­dent sta­te and ta­kes active part in elections. Thus, our count­ry has reached a new sta­ge in its his­to­ry with a hu­ge crea­tive and de­mocra­tic po­ten­tial.

The cour­se of the cur­rent electi­on cam­paign tes­ti­fies to the fact that de­mocracy has become an in­teg­ral fea­tu­re of the sta­te and pub­lic li­fe. All three po­li­tical par­ties, the De­mocra­tic Par­ty, the Ag­ra­rian Par­ty and the Par­ty of In­dust­ria­lists and Ent­rep­re­neurs of Turk­me­nis­tan, have no­mi­na­ted their pre­si­den­tial can­di­da­tes. In ad­di­tion, the ini­tia­tive groups of citi­zens have no­mi­na­ted their pre­si­den­tial can­di­da­tes.

All pre­si­den­tial can­di­da­tes have held mee­tings with voters in all the re­gions and the capi­tal city. Rep­re­sen­ta­tives of la­bour col­lectives of en­terp­ri­ses and or­ga­ni­sa­tions at­tend the­se mee­tings. Ho­no­ra­ry el­ders, es­tee­med wo­men and young peop­le are frequent par­ticipants. Everyo­ne lis­tens very care­ful­ly to the rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the can­di­da­tes, who talk about the pro­fes­sio­nal and per­so­nal qua­li­ties of the can­di­da­tes and their li­fe and pro­fes­sio­nal expe­rience.

Can­di­da­tes come for­ward with their prog­ram­mes. Par­ticipants in the mee­tings ask the can­di­da­tes ques­tions with great in­te­rest about their vision of the imp­le­men­ta­tion of the Na­tio­nal Prog­ram­me of the Socioecono­mic Develop­ment of Turk­me­nis­tan for 2022–2052. Mee­tings with can­di­da­tes and acquain­tance with their electo­ral prog­ram­mes, which are pub­lis­hed in the me­dia, al­low every citi­zen of Turk­me­nis­tan to ma­ke an in­for­med choice on electi­on day. The Electo­ral Code of Turk­me­nis­tan gua­ran­tees that this will be a free choice. Free­dom of choice for everyo­ne is the ba­sis of de­mocracy.

Par­ticipa­to­ry de­mocracy is the grea­test he­ri­ta­ge of the ances­tors of the Turk­men peop­le, which is not on­ly ref­lected in the cul­tu­re, tra­di­tions and li­fes­ty­le, but al­so in the sta­te buil­ding of in­de­pen­dent Turk­me­nis­tan. The grea­test ma­ni­fes­ta­tion of de­mocracy is the sys­tem es­tab­lis­hed in Turk­me­nis­tan to form bo­dies of sta­te po­wer and local self-govern­ment through free elections. Thus, each of us is a bea­rer of de­mocracy.

The de­mocra­tic foun­da­tions of our society and sta­te help us main­tain peace and social concord, uni­ty and so­li­da­ri­ty, achieve great accomp­lish­ments in socioecono­mic develop­ment and main­tain the pres­ti­ge of Turk­me­nis­tan on the in­ter­na­tio­nal are­na.

The pre­si­den­tial electi­on is to be anot­her de­monst­ra­tion of the high level of po­li­tical cul­tu­re and the com­mit­ment of our peop­le to de­mocra­tic values.