Turkmenistan president wins re-election with 97% of vote

[Bernkastel]

Source. Isn't it nice to see "democracy" in action?

Turkmenistan's president, Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov, has won a new five-year term by capturing 97% of the vote, election officials said. A western expert called the vote a democratic sham.

All of Berdymukhamedov's seven opponents praised his leadership in their campaigns, making the authoritarian leader's victory in Sunday's election a formality. Berdymukhamedov improved on his performance in the 2007 election, in which he secured his first term with 89% of the vote. The head of the central election commission, Orazmyrat Niyazliyev, said the vote was democratic and had contributed to national unity.

Annette Bohr, an expert on Turkmenistan at the London-based Chatham House institute, said the election presented only the facade of a democratic process. "It is the typical faux democracy that you see in so many countries," Bohr said.

Turkmenistan, a former Soviet republic that borders the Caspian Sea, is the subject of avid interest from the west, Russia and China because of its natural gas reserves, which are estimated to be the fourth largest in the world. Berdymukhamedov, 54, came to power after the death of predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov, in 2006 and promised to open up the tightly controlled political system.

The only international observation mission overseeing the election was a delegation from the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which frequently offers positive assessments of votes criticised by more established monitoring bodies. The CIS executive secretary, Sergei Lebedev, said the election complied with democratic norms. Monitors had noted some minor irregularities but they were unlikely to have any impact on the final result, he said.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe had said earlier that conditions were not suitable for a vote-monitoring mission and Turkmenistan did not invite its observers.

[Grumman]

Is there anything in particular to suggest it's not legitimate, apart from the simple fact that a person received 97% of the vote? I'm just going by the Wikipedia article, but there's nothing there that suggests he shouldn't be well liked - the worst thing the article has to say about the man is that the media is on a first name basis with him.

[Thanas]

Turkmenistan is one of those "benevolent dear leader" crapholes.

[Bernkastel]

Quite. His predecessor had the title "President for Life" and did such things as renaming the months, with one month named after himself and ordering the closure of all libraries outside the capital. Things have improved since then, but the regime is still one of an authoritarian charecter.

[K. A. Pital]

This is one of the worst and most idiotic Dark Age regimes in post-Soviet space. The dislike is well-warranted.