Turkmen Poll Developments
An interesting development has arisen in the Turkmen Foreign Minister’s announcement that international observers will be allowed to oversee upcoming Feb. 11 elections, as The Associated Press reports:
Minister Rashid Meredov said Turkmenistan will allow international observers to monitor next month’s presidential elections, state television reported Sunday.
The move will make the Feb. 11 vote to replace long-ruling autocratic President Saparmurat Niyazov — who died last month — the Central Asian nation’s first ever election monitored by outside observers.
Meredov told a Cabinet meeting Saturday that agreements were reached to invite election observers from Russia, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and some other unspecified organizations, state television said. It gave no further details.
Developments in this ex-Soviet republic after Niyazov’s death have been closely watched by both Russia and the West because of its huge natural gas reserves and its strategic location next to Iran and Afghanistan.
Russia depends on Turkmenistan’s natural gas supplies to meet its own energy delivery commitments to Europe.
Deputy Prime Minister Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov, who became acting president after Niyazov’s death, is one of six presidential candidates and is expected to win.
All candidates were chosen by Turkmenistan’s highest legislative body and they pledged to continue the policies of Niyazov, the self-proclaimed Turkmenbashi or “Father of All Turkmen” who ruled the desert nation of five million for 21 years.
Turkmenistan’s election chief Murad Karryyev said earlier that the election would be monitored only by domestic observers.
The OSCE, a trans-Atlantic democracy and security body that monitors elections, has said it aims to send a small team of experts to follow the election, but will not mount a full observation mission because of a lack of time to prepare.
It said in a recent report that this will be Turkmenistan’s first presidential election with more than one candidate, which it said was a development that “merits support” but was “no guarantee for a competitive election.”
Further commentary to follow.
on January 24th, 2007 at 10:20 am
I am a citizen of Turkmenistan, currently staying abroad due to several reasons. I believe that after dictator Niyazov’s death the country will slowly turn to at least basic liberties. Just by reading www.turkmenistan.ru - an official news Web site that used to promote Turkmenbashi’s regime when he was alive - I could tell that positive changes are to come. First of all, interim President G. Berdymukhammedov announced that he will build a clean water factory in the country’s northern city of Dashoguz, which has the saltiest water in the republic. The Web site said that “a need to build such a factory has been urgent long ago..” Nothing like this could have been said if Turkmenbashi had been alive. “The country is in perfect condition!” the news agency would report.
The fact that interim president intends to introduce reforms in education, pension system, agriculture and health care systems is already a sign of future changes. We do have problems. In fact, many problems. Everybody knows it. I’m very hopeful that things will change for the better.