Turkmenistan's president said on Friday the Central Asian country is ready for a multiparty system and a second party should be created "to explain government policy."
"The creation in Turkmenistan of the Peasant's Party, which will explain the essence of the government's agricultural policy and lay ideological foundation for the reforms in the agriculture sector, will be timely," Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said.
Turkmenistan, an energy-rich state that is emerging from nearly two decades of self-isolation under its previous leader Saparmurat Niyazov, has only one political party - the Democratic Party. Berdymukhamedov succeeded Niyazov, who died in 2006.
The Turkmen president did not say when the Peasant's Party would be created, but ordered the parliamentary chairman, Akdzha Nurberdyeva, to draft a law on political parties.
He said the main prerequisites for the new political party are that it abides by the constitution and participates in the Galkynysh National Movement, led by the Democratic Party.
DASHOGUZ, May 14 (RIA Novosti)
