How is the national electoral register created?

Turkmenistan, Electoral Code of, 4 May 2013 (including amendments up to 2017) [unofficial translation], accessed 16 September 2018

Article 41. Voter Lists and the Procedure for Their Compilation

1. A voter list shall be compiled for each polling station commission and signed by the chair and secretary of the polling station election commission. The polling station election commission may recruit representatives of the public to participate in compilation of the list.

The voter lists shall be compiled separately for each constituency should more than one constituency locate within the boundaries of a polling station.

2. Local executive authorities and local self-governance bodies shall submit to the polling station election commissions the information regarding voters who reside on the respective territory necessary for compilation of voter lists. […]

Article 42. Procedure for Including Citizens in Voter Lists

1. Citizens of Turkmenistan who have attained eighteen years of age by election, referendum day, residing permanently or mainly (no less than three months prior to election, a referendum day) in the territory of a given polling station and entitled to participate in voting shall be included in the voter list.

2. A citizen of Turkmenistan who has voting rights but due to some reason not included in the voters lists shall be included in an additional voter list by the relevant polling station election commission.

3. Each voter may be included in a voter list at only one polling station.

OSCE, ODIHR Election Assessment Mission: Turkmenistan Parliamentary Elections 2018 [Final Report], 30 May 2018, accessed 16 September 2018

“Voter lists are compiled by PECs, anew for each electoral process. According to the law, PECs should rely on population data provided by district administration. To be included in the list, a voter must have resided on the territory of a given precinct for a minimum of three months. In practice, some PECs updated the information they received by conducting door-to-door verifications or compiled the lists without initial input from the district authorities. In spite of previous ODIHR recommendations, the legislation does not provide for any safeguards against multiple registration.” [page 7]  

Voter lists are created at the level of Precinct Election Commissions (PECs). PECs mainly rely on population data provided by district administration. However, they conduct door-to-door registration as well.