PREVIEW: Election in gas-rich Turkmenistan a foregone conclusion

By Benedikt von Imhoff Feb 9, 2012, 9:05 GMT

Ashgabat/Moscow - While eight candidates are contesting Sunday's presidential elections in Turkmenistan, there is no serious doubt about the victory of the incumbent, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow.

The authoritarian 54-year-old leader of this largely desert Central Asian state, which has huge natural gas and substantial oil reserves, is expected to take about 90 per cent of the vote.

There is little real choice facing the electorate of almost 3 million, in the view of outside political observers.

The other seven candidates are seen as handpicked token challengers to Berdimuhamedow, who has ruled the ex-Soviet state since the end of 2006.

Independent monitoring of the elections is all but impossible in Turkmenistan, whose population of 6.7 million remains largely cut off from the outside world.

There are no opposition parties or organizations critical of the government. Satellite television dishes are banned to ensure residents cannot watch foreign television broadcasts.

More than a week before the poll, internet sites critical of the regime, such as Chronika Turkmenistana, were shut down in apparent hacker attacks.

No election in this country on the Caspian Sea has ever been rated free and fair by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Western journalists are clearly unwelcome. Requests for a visa by dpa were turned down by the authorities in Ashgabat.

Reporters without Borders ranks Turkmenistan third last in terms of press freedom on its list of 178 countries. Only North Korea and Eritrea score worse.

Berdimuhamedow did introduce some reforms following the death of his predecessor, the dictator Saparmurat Niyazov, moving the late leader's statues to less prominent places and reopening libraries.

Niyazov had allowed only his own works to be published alongside the Koran, ruling that other literature was superfluous in this Muslim country.

The months of the year now again have their normal names, and no longer those of Niyazov's family members.

'This country respects the rights of all individuals and will always respect them,' Berdimuhamedow has said.

Foreign human rights activists dismiss such pledges as hollow, accusing the president of repressing dissident opinion and clamping down on any opponents of his government.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch highlight the case of Geldy Kyarizov, a 61-year-old former minister who fell into disfavour. Kyarizov, who spent years in prison, is being refused medical treatment and is not allowed to leave the country, according to the human rights groups.

Nevertheless, there is little overt criticism of Turkmenistan from abroad, as its gas reserves are highly coveted by Russia and the West. The country also shares strategically important borders with Iran and Afghanistan.

European countries are keen to gain access to Turkmenistan's gas reserves in order to reduce dependence on Russia. The European Union is backing the Nabucco Pipeline project intended to pump gas from the Caspian Sea region to the West from 2017 onwards.