NationStates Jolt Archive

Voters in Turkmenistan head for the polls on Sunday to elect a successor to long-time leader Saparmurat Niyazov, who died in office in December 2006.

The acting president, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, is widely expected to win the vote and take permanent charge.

[...]

Six candidates are running for president, all of them approved by Turkmenistan's supreme legislative body, the People's Council.

[...]

Since taking over as acting president, Mr Berdymukhamedov has promised to maintain his predecessor's main policies. However, he has also pledged to introduce some reforms, including unlimited access to the internet, better education and higher pensions.

Of the other five candidates, one is a deputy oil and gas minister, while the other four are relatively obscure regional officials. All of them have delivered similar pledges to those made by Mr Berdymukhamedov.

[...]

Mr Berdymukhamedov has said he believes the introduction of a multi-party political system and other reforms may benefit Turkmenistan.

However, many analysts believe the chances of significant change in the short term are slim.


Full article here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6334393.stm).

It'll be interesting to see what happens in post-Niyazov Turkmenistan.

It'll be interesting to see what happens in post-Niyazov Turkmenistan.

Months being renamed? :D

Boiling oil executions will be redoubled?

Months being renamed?

Already done. They need something new. Renaming clouds after members of Cabinet?

Boiling oil executions will be redoubled?

That was Uzbekistan, not Turkmenistan, I think.

I can't hear "Turkmenistan" without thinking of the Simpsons...

"Hey baby, I've got more features than a NASA relief map of Turkmenistan!"

From what the article was saying, the most sweeping change that's likely to occur is that bread will no longer be named after Niyazov's mother. Beyond that, though, not much.

Full article here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6334393.stm).

It'll be interesting to see what happens in post-Niyazov Turkmenistan.

10 euro says the next president will rename himself Turkmenbashi II or something like that.;)

Notice how free and fair elections haven't been promised... c.c

Normally this should be a given, but this is Central asia we're talking about. Free consists of you not being executed for voting for the wrong candidate, and fair consists of you vote actually being counted before the incumbent is declared to have won the election.

Already done. They need something new. Renaming clouds after members of Cabinet?

Better yet! Hurricanes!

Imagine that!

"Gurbanguly got to the town of Balkanabat today, destroying several houses in its wake..."

Now, how did I miss the news that Turkmenbashi died? There was a man who knew how to run a personality cult. :D

So, it's now time to name the next holder of the title "Craziest National Leader". As a lifelong member of Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow, it has fallen to me to present the award.

The candidates: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez, and Kim Jong-Il.

The envelope, please...

The Craziest National Leader in the entire world is...

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran!

Congratulations, President Ahmadinejad, you truly deserve this honor.

:p

Now, how did I miss the news that Turkmenbashi died? There was a man who knew how to run a personality cult. :DYou must have been living under a rock. Which means you're either an insect or a politician according to NSG.

that was rigged! You did not include Than Shwe!

Not everyone moves the capital of the nation due to a bad horoscope...

You must have been living under a rock. Which means you're either an insect or a politician according to NSG.

Well, yes, but it was a very big rock and I had to share it with Dick Cheney. Not a fun time at all. :(

Well, yes, but it was a very big rock and I had to share it with Dick Cheney. Not a fun time at all. :(Just take solace in the fact that he didn't shoot you.

Is this election open to anyone? What are the residency requirements for becoming a citizen of Turkmenistan? I mean, I could be as creative as their last leader, no problem.

Is this election open to anyone? What are the residency requirements for becoming a citizen of Turkmenistan? I mean, I could be as creative as their last leader, no problem.

"And henceforth, the doors to all houses will be built in the roof. And all gerbils will be renamed after my mother."

"And henceforth, the doors to all houses will be built in the roof. And all gerbils will be renamed after my mother."

"Effective on the first day of the month named after me, driving will be on the left side of the road on odd-numbered days and on the right on even-numbered days."

From a Bulgarian news agency:


To anyone outside Turkmenistan, as isolated and incongruous a country as just about anywhere on the planet, the conduct of tomorrow's presidential elections might seem both absurd and grotesquely unfair.

Every morning, five of the six contestants are reportedly required to appear at secret police headquarters where they are handed their daily schedules, told what their policies are and what subjects to avoid. Ashirnyiaz Pomanov, the mayor of Turkmenistan's second city, could be forgiven for feeling particularly aggrieved. In a country where the education system is in tatters, health care has all but ground to a halt and poverty is soaring, he has been instructed to campaign on a single issue: tourism. In fact, Mr Pomanov is probably not unduly bothered that his message has garnered so little public support. Like the other five candidates, he has just one job: to ensure the victory of acting president Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov.

No-one doubts that Mr Berdymukhammedov will win. Even the head of the ostensibly independent electoral commission has pledged to "do everything" to ensure his victory. The election may be a foregone conclusion, but western diplomats are surprisingly buoyant. For the past decade they have been unable to do business with Turkmenistan, a country whose vast natural gas reserves could bolster Europe's energy security and crucially reduce dependency on an increasingly hostile Russia.

(Source (http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n105421))

Woohoo...

And... it's done.


Turkmenistan's caretaker leader Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov was declared Wednesday winner of the weekend presidential election and immediately sworn into office.

"Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov received 89.23 percent of the votes," the head of the country's electoral commission, Murad Karryev, told a meeting of the country's highest legislative body, the People's Council.

"The people have confided their destiny in you," Karryev told Berdymukhammedov, who immediately took an oath on the country's constitution.

Berdymukhammedov promised "to respect all the laws and the Constitution, to work for the good of the people and the development of our country while following the way traced by Saparmurad Turkmenbashi."


Article here (http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/news/asia-pacific/20070214-turkmenistan-leader.html).

Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov received 89.23 percent of the votes


The remaining 10.77% of the population were summarily executed.