ASHGABAT (AFP) – Turkmenistan headed to the polls on Saturday in a presidential vote that is expected to yield ex-Soviet Central Asia’s first father-son transition.
Nine candidates are on the ballot in the republic of six million people, but President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, who has been president since the country’s founding president died in 2006, is not among them.
Berdymukhamedov senior signaled his decision to step aside last month and allow “young leaders” to govern.
The announcement has seen the role to fall to his son, Serdar Berdymukhamedov, 40, who has rapidly risen to the top of government.
Polling stations across the desert nation opened at 7:00 am (0200 GMT) and closed at 7:00 pm.
Berdymukhamedov said last month that he wishes to remain in politics in his role as chairman of the Turkmen parliament’s upper chamber.
Serdar Berdymukhamedov’s 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 took up roles as deputy cabinet chair, auditor general and member of the security council.
Civil servant Selbi Nepesova, 39, told AFP 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.
China has come to dominate this trade, with one-time top customer Russia’s demand for the fuel now under doubt amid crippling sanctions connected to the conflict in Ukraine.
Turkmenistan’s upcoming father-son switch will be the first of its kind in Central Asia, despite erstwhile predictions in Turkmenistan’s larger neighbors Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
An inauguration ceremony has been scheduled for March 19, TDH stated on Friday.