ASHGABAT, May 23, 2008 (AFP) - The Turkmen parliament on Friday called for the presidential term to be extended from five to seven years as part of a package of constitutional reforms.

Parliament speaker Akdja Nurberdyeva said numerous citizens and lawmakers had appealed for a lengthening of the presidential term 'to enable the head of state to carry out long-term policies.'

Nurberdyeva voiced her proposal at a meeting to discuss constitutional changes headed by Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.

The 50-year-old Turkmen leader last year succeeded eccentric autocrat Saparmurat Niyazov, known for the gold statues of himself he placed around this mainly desert gas-rich country.

He has moved to unpick some of Niyazov's outlandish legacy, removing the largest of the gold statues, which towered on the Ashgabat skyline rotating to always face the sun.

So far there has been little loosening of presidential control however.

International human rights groups, banned in the country, say numerous opposition activists remain in jail, while there is only one legal political party.

But on Friday Berdymukhamedov said he wanted parliament to take on lawmaking powers that are currently in the hands of a rubber-stamp consultative body called the Khalk Maslakhaty (People's Council).

Both institutions have so far been completely subservient to the president.

He said it would be rational to 'free' the council of 'its law-making functions and to transfer the majority of these functions to the Medjilis (parliament).'

Parliamentary elections are due by the year's end. Previous one-party elections have been dismissed by the main Western election observation body, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.