Turkmenistan Votes: President’s Son Likely To Succeed Father

Voting is underway in Turkmenistan for a tightly controlled snap election. Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov’s son; Serdar, is poised to win Saturday’s snap presidential election and succeed his father as the ruler of a gas-rich Central Asian nation of six million.

President Berdymukhamedov, who has been in power since 2007, called the vote last month, saying he wanted to give way to a new generation of leaders and the ruling Democratic party quickly nominated his son.

Nine candidates are on the ballot in the republic of six million people. Three-time President Berdymukhamedov, who tolerates no opposition and has dominated public life since the country’s founding president died in 2006, has made way for his 40-year-old son Serdar Berdymukhamedov.

A state television announcer confirming the beginning of voting at 7 am (02:00 GMT) on Saturday said the elections “will become yet more clear evidence of the irreversibility of the process of democratization of modern Turkmen society”.

The outgoing president has said he would remain the speaker of the upper house of parliament after handing over the presidency.

Over 86 percent of voters had cast their ballots by 3 p.m. local time (1000 GMT), the Central Election Commission said.

“There is hope that the country will become more modern, will look forward rather than back,” Oraz, a 30-year-old logistics company employee, said after voting.

Much less is known about Serdar Berdymukhamedov 40, whose government promotions received little public attention until he entered parliament in 2016.

Since then he has been a deputy foreign minister, the head of a province, and an industry and construction minister.

Last year he won a triple promotion, taking up roles as deputy cabinet chair, auditor general, and member of the security council.

Civil servant Selbi Nepesova, 39, told the AFP news agency that Serdar Berdymukhamedov’s official biography proves he is “the most experienced” of the candidates, despite being younger than his rivals, most of whom are low-ranking government employees.

“People who worked with him know more about him than us simple folk. He will have his father close by,” the Ashgabat resident said, explaining her decision to vote for him.

Turkmenistan’s economy is almost wholly dependent on sales of natural gas, making it vulnerable to external shocks that have crippled the purchasing power of citizens, who have no access to hard currency.

The country sits on the world’s fourth-largest natural gas reserves and exports gas by pipelines to China and Russia. Turkmen state media has almost completely ignored the bloody war taking place in Europe.

But on Friday it referenced “complicated circumstances” in Ukraine in a report on the evacuation of Turkmen students forced to flee the country.

Turkmenistan’s upcoming father-son switch will be the first of its kind in Central Asia, despite erstwhile predictions of family rule in Turkmenistan’s larger neighbors Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Results of the vote are due to be announced on Sunday.

Turkmenistan, a former Soviet republic bordering Iran and Afghanistan, sits on the world’s fourth-largest natural gas reserves and exports gas by pipelines to China and Russia.

An inauguration ceremony has been scheduled for March 19, TDH stated on Friday.