Turkmenistan: Autocrat president's son claims landslide win
March 15, 2022
The son of Turkmenistan's autocrat leader Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov won the presidential elections by a considerable margin. The result was announced after an unusual vote-counting delay.
Turkemenistan has a poor human rights recordImage: Vladimir Smirnov/TASS/IMAGO
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Serdar Berdymukhamedov, whose father has run Turkmenistan since 2006, was elected president with nearly 73% of votes cast, according to the country's electoral commission.
The switch of presidents is the first hereditary succession in the former Soviet region of Central Asia and comes after a dizzying rise through the ranks for the younger Berdymukhamedov.
Who was in the running?
Voting got underway on Saturday in the tightly controlled election, which most observers had said was all but certain to bring about the father-son succession.
There were 8 other candidates in the election, including some relatively unknown low-level public servants. The Turkmen constitution allows for a new president to be elected for a 7-year term.
The closest rival in a field of nine candidates was university official Khyrdyr Nunnayev, who garnered 11% of the votes.
However, the 40-year-old Serdar had been the overwhelming favorite in Saturday's election to take over from his father and to lead the gas-rich country. He has held a number of prominent government posts, most recently as Turkmenistan's deputy prime minister.
He is commonly referred to by local media as "the son of the nation." His 64-year-old father Gurbanguly — who plans to stay on as speaker of the upper house — is known as Arkadag, or Protector.
The elder Berdymukhamedov has run the country since 2006Image: Yevgeny Biyatov, Sputnik, Kremlin/picture alliance
Result delayed by days
There had been an unexpected wait for the result, as authorities on Sunday said they needed more time to count the votes.
Turkmenistan normally releases preliminary results the day immediately after the vote, such as when the elder Berdymukhamedov was reelected with 97% of the vote in 2017.
A cult of personality
The elder Berdymukhamedov announced the vote last month, saying Turkmenistan should be run by younger people.
He has led the country since he was first appointed acting president when the eccentric Saparmurat Niyazov died in December 2006.
During his rule, Berdymukhamedo established a cult of personality, showing off his physical fitness with stunts including driving sports cars, target shooting and weightlifting.
During his time, China replaced Russia as the main buyer for the country's huge gas reserves.
Where freedom of the press doesn't exist
Many states routinely attack and intimidate journalists and bloggers to keep them in check. In its 2015 press freedom index, Reporters Without Borders ranks the performance of 180 countries. These states come in last.
Image: Fotolia/picsfive
Africa's very own North Korea: Eritrea
Eritrea ranks second-last in the World Press Freedom Index. Reports from the disastrous state of affairs in Eritrea are rare, and many journalists have been forced to leave the country. Radio Erena is the only one to broadcast independent information to the people of Eritrea — from Paris.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Juinen
Dictated by the dictator
Press freedom is also non-existent in North Korea. Sealed off from the rest of the world, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un keeps a check on what the media publish. State TV and radio are available, nothing more. People who express their opinions vanish in political prison camps — along with their entire families.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Yonhap/Kcna
Keeping tabs in Turkmenistan
President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov owns almost all of the country's media corporations. The newspaper Rysgal is the only exception, and even here, every edition needs state approval before it can go to press. A new law against media monopolies gives the people of Turkmenistan access to foreign news, but the government still keeps tabs on the Internet, and blocks most websites.
Image: Stringer/AFP/Getty Images
Culling the critics
Independent media do not exist in Vietnam. The ruling Communist Party tells journalists what to publish. For the most part, publishers, editors and the reporters themselves are party members. Authorities have recently taken a greater interest in bloggers who challenge the authoritarian Communist Party's opinion monopoly - and try to silence them by sending them to jail.
Image: picture alliance/ZB/A. Burgi
China's non-freedom
China, Reporters Without Borders says, is the world's biggest prison for bloggers and journalists. The authoritarian regime takes massive steps against unwelcome news coverage; pressure on foreign reporters is also on the rise. Entire regions are taboo to them, their work is closely monitored and Chinese assistants or interview partners can quite simply be imprisoned.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Schiefelbein
Under fire in Syria
Many journalists have been persecuted and killed since the uprising against Bashar al-Assad, whom Reporters Without Borders has ranked as an enemy of press freedom for years. The al-Nusra front, which fights against Assad, and the Islamic State group in turn attack Syrian state media reporters, kidnapping or publicly executing the journalists and correspondents.
