ASHGABAT. Dec 3 (Interfax) - The delegation of international observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), who will monitor the preparations for and holding of elections to the Turkmen Majlis (parliament) scheduled on December 15, has arrived in Ashgabat.
The mission, sent by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) upon the invitations of Turkmenistan, is headed by Ambassador Alexander Kelchevsky (France).
Delegation members have held meetings in the Turkmen Foreign Ministry and Central Elections Committee, where they have studied the events planned by the Central Elections Committee, the list of election districts and polling stations, samples of prepared election documents and general work carried out at voting sites, the Turkmen mass media outlets reported on Tuesday.
Turkmen Majlis is a single-chamber parliament, which has been made up of 125 deputies since 2008 (65 representatives had comprised the parliament previously), who are elected for five years in electoral districts with approximately same numbers of voters.
Currently 283 candidates are running for deputy mandates in 2013 elections, including representatives of two political parties - the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan and the Party of Manufacturers and Businessmen of Turkmenistan.
A total of 2,446 polling stations - 2,413 in Turkmenistan and 33 in Turkmen diplomatic missions abroad - have been created.