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Turkmenistan sets February presidential vote after Niyazov death
By Anton Lomov
AFP
ASHGABAT
Petroleumworld.com 12 27 06Turkmenistan will hold a February presidential election to replace strongman ruler Saparmurat Niyazov, who died last week, officials said Tuesday, stressing however that change in the tightly-controlled Central Asian country is not on the cards.
The specially convened People's Council selected six candidates to run on February 11.
The clear favourite was Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, the first deputy prime minister and caretaker president.
"We would have elected him now if we could have. The people will also want this," Murad Karryev, head of the central electoral commission, said.
"I propose him because he was loyal to Niyazov... and fulfilled Niyazov's demands without complaining," Ondzhuk Mussayev, head of the country's sole legal party, the Democratic Party, said when presenting Berdymukhammedov's candidature.The February election will technically be the first multi-candidate presidential poll in the gas-rich, strategically located ex-Soviet republic, although analysts believe a democratic contest is impossible.
Niyazov, who ruled for 21 years, won the presidency in an unopposed poll, before being nominated "president-for-life". He died Thursday from what officials and doctors described as a heart attack.The meeting of the People's Council -- held in a large auditorium in the capital Ashgabat with around 2,500 council members, including clan elders and local government officials -- made clear that Berdymukhammedov was all but chosen.
The other five candidates nominated were a deputy oil and gas minister, two mayors, a deputy regional governor and the head of a regional district.
Berdymukhammedov has been in the ascendancy since Niyazov's sudden death, being chosen as interim president instead of the speaker of parliament, who would usually fill the post, but who came under criminal investigation last week.
In comments to the People's Council, Berdymukhammedov said: "The people of Turkmenistan will highly evaluate all that he (Niyazov) did for the people, for the country, for democracy. Long live the world, long live Turkmenistan, and long live the sacred Rukhnama."
The Rukhnama is a collection of Niyazov's philosphical musings that became compulsory reading for school children and officials.
Meanwhile, the exiled Watan (Homeland) party said on its website that Khudaiberdy Orazov, a former deputy prime minister of Turkmenistan, had also declared his candidacy. But analysts say the country's opposition has virtually no chance of making a comeback.
During his lengthy reign, Niyazov crushed any form of dissent, isolated his country from the outside world and surrounded himself with a bizarre and lavish personality cult.
The self-styled Turkmenbashi, or Leader of all Turkmen, was revered by some ordinary inhabitants as a father of the nation figure who managed to ensure stability in the country after the fall of the Soviet Union.
"It doesn't matter who will be a new president. He just has to continue the policy of Niyazov. People got used to him over the last 20 years. We don't need rough changes and revolutions," said Durdy-aga, 69, a pensioner.
But Dursun, a 32-year-old employee at one of Turkmenistan's few private enterprises, said: "It would be good if the new leader could make our country more open."
"I visit other countries for business trips and see how people live there: openly, freely and they can use the fruits of civilization, for example the Internet," Dursun said.
Access to the Internet is possible but heavily restricted in Turkmenistan.
AFP 26 1709 GMT 12 06
Copyright© 2001 AFP All Rights Reserved.
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