Turkmenistan on Sunday voted in presidential elections, expecting to see President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov cruise to a new term at the helm of the isolated state challenged only by token opposition. Seven candidates are standing against the president, who took power after the death of eccentric dictator Saparmurat Niyazov in 2006, but all are loyal members of the elite who have not sounded a note of criticism in the campaign. Voting took place in a festive atmosphere with bands playing traditional music while food and even presents were handed to voters, said an AFP reporter who was taken on a tour of polling stations by the election commission. With the authorities making clear that voting was a national duty, the election commission said over 68 percent of the electorate had cast their ballot by 0900 GMT in what is set to be a mass turnout.
In a clear nudge to voters, the anchor on state television proclaimed: “Aware of their great responsibility for the future of the motherland, the people will choose the most worthy of the eight candidates.” Berdymukhamedov cast his vote alongside his son, grandson and his father Myalikguly Berdymukhamedov, who with conspicuous timing last week was given the honour of having a police unit named after him, official media said. “Our hero president is the only one to take us along the true path. He is the Protector and pillar of the people,” voter Gozel Sopyyeva, 60, said at a polling station outside Ashgabat.
