Turkmenistan: Autocrat’s son wins prez polls
ASHGABAT, TURKMENISTAN: The son of Turkmenistan’s autocrat leader Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov decisively won the presidential election, officials said on Tuesday, paving the way for hereditary succession in one of the world’s most tightly controlled countries.
Serdar Berdymukhamedov, 40, won the ballot held last Saturday with 73% of the vote, the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) said.
Nine candidates stood in the poll in the isolated country of six million people, but few doubted that Berdymukhamedov’s only son Serdar - who has pledged to pursue his father’s course would take over the country’s top job.
Berdymukhamedov senior, who is now Turkmenistan’s outgoing president, chair of the cabinet and senate chief, has been the regime’s top decision-maker for the last 15 years.
The strongman known as the gas-rich country’s “protector” has dominated public life since the country’s founding president, Saparmurat Niyazov, died in 2006 and he tolerates no dissent.
Last month Berdymukhamedov said he would step aside and allow “young leaders” to govern, triggering a snap vote.
In the end Berdymukhamedov junior obtained a victory margin far lower than the 98- and 97% routs posted by his 64-year-old father in the hermit state’s previous two elections.
Observers say his father will still be holding the reins, after the family patriarch pledged to remain in politics as head of the senate.
One thing that is unlikely to change is the republic’s neutral status in international affairs. Serdar Berdymukhamedov told journalists last Saturday that status would remain if he won because it “allows Turkmenistan to develop fully-fledged relations with all states”.
The younger Berdymukhamedov’s inauguration is scheduled for next Saturday.