In September 2020 the Turkmenistan Parliament adopted a constitutional amendment creating an upper chamber and thus making the Parliament bicameral. The People's Council became the upper chamber. Of its 56 members, 48 are indirectly elected and 8 are appointed by the president. Together with the previous unicameral parliamentary body, the 125-seat Mejlis, as the lower chamber, the Parliament is now called the National Council (). Election to the upper chamber was held 28 March 2021. Elections to the Mejlis were last held 25 March 2018. In January 2023 both chambers of parliament proposed to abolish the Halk Maslahaty as a legislative organ, to reform it as an independent representative body, and to place all legislative authority in a unicameral Assembly (Mejlis). This proposal was adopted in a joint sesssion of the National Council on 21 January 2023. De facto authority Outside observers consider the Turkmen legislature to be a rubber stamp parliament. The Turkmen legislature is described as under the "full control" of the president. Political parties and elections Turkmenistan was until recently a one-party state wherein only the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan () was legally allowed to contest elections. Other parties are now formally allowed to exist following the adoption of the new Constitution. There have been political parties and opposition groups in the past—a group named Agzybirlik (Unity) was banned in January 1990. Its members formed the Party for Democratic Development which was itself banned in 1991. This led a coalition for democratic reform named Gengesh (Conference). The latest opposition party, the Republican Party of Turkmenistan (), operates in exile. Since all opposition was banned within Turkmenistan, so it has been forced to form and operate from abroad. Below is the list of parliamentary parties in Turkmenistan: Administrative divisions Turkmenistan is divided into five provinces (): Ahal Province, Balkan Province, Daşoguz Province, Lebap Province, and Mary Province. The capital city, Ashgabat, is a separate entity and though a city has the legal status of a province () under the Turkmen constitution. An authoritative list of administrative divisions as of 5 January 2018, can be seen on the OpenStreetMap wiki. Foreign policy Foreign policy of Turkmenistan is based on the status of permanent positive neutrality recognized by the UN General Assembly Resolution on Permanent Neutrality of Turkmenistan on 12 December 1995. Articles on Turkmenistan's foreign policy as a neutral state: Regional Strategy of Ashgabat Neutral Factor of Turkmenistan The