On 30 March the first session of Turkmenistan Parliament VI Assembly, led by President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, was held in Turkmenistan.
Gulshat Mamedova, who had occupied the post of Deputy Mejlis Chairperson since June 2017, was unanimously elected the speaker of the Parliament.
Mammedova previously held the position of Deputy Chairperson of the Cabinet of Ministers overseeing culture and mass media.
In this position Mammedova replaced Akdja Nurberdyeva who had been the Chairperson since February 2007.
According to the website “Gundogar”, Nurberdyeva was nominated as a candidate for a member of the Mejlis VI Assembly by Turkmenistan’s Democratic Party. However, a few days prior to the elections she was excluded from the list of registered candidates.
The session of Turkmenistan’s Cabinet of Ministers was held in the morning of the same day. Akdja Nurberdyeva, who at that moment was the Mejlis Chairperson, did not attend.
The editor-in-chief of the news outlet Bairam Shikhmuradov says that only two individuals: Mukhammednazar Kurbanberdyev, the head of urban development control department in Ashgabat khyakimlik’s office and Akdja Nurberdyeva, Chairperson of Turkmenistan’s Mejlis were listed as candidates for members of Turkmenistan’s Mejlis in the election district №15 “Bezmein”.
4 days later, “Neitralny Turkmenistan” published bios and photos of candidates for members of the Mejlis, and only M. Kurbanberdyev was listed as a candidate in the election district №15 “Bezmein”. There was no mention of A. Nurberdyeva.
On 25 March 2018 the elections were held and on 30 March the newspaper “Neitralny Turkmenistan” published the results of Turkmenistan’s Parliamentary elections.According to this information, M.
Kurbanberdyev won the election in the election district №15 “Bezmein” securing 65,49% of votes leaving behind… Gulshat Akyeva, who was not in the list of registered candidates and whose bio was not published as is required by the law.