AP News, January 17th, 2007
Turkmenistan's presidential elections next month will be monitored by domestic observers, with no foreign presence expected at the polls, authorities said Wednesday.
The announcement is likely to heighten doubts about the democratic nature of the Feb. 11 election, which is being held after last month's death of the tightly controlled Central Asian nation's long-ruling autocrat, President Saparmurat Niyazov.
"Domestic observers will carry out a full monitoring of the presidential elections in Turkmenistan," Central Electoral Commission head Murad Karryyev told the official daily Neutralny Turkmenistan.
The electoral commission said that so far, no foreign observers had requested permission to monitor the vote.
The domestic observers "will assess the level of organization of the campaign and compliance with existing legislation, to ensure complete freedom of choice for citizens and the democratic character of the electoral process," Karryyev said.
Deputy Prime Minister Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov became acting president after Niyazov's death and is seen as likely to win.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a trans-Atlantic democracy and security body that monitors elections, said that it had sent a team to Turkmenistan to evaluate the situation and determine whether to send observers. It said a decision would be announced soon.
Berdymukhamedov is one of six candidates. All 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 resource-rich state for 21 years.
International observers expressed doubt about the freedom and fairness of the upcoming election after exiled opposition politicians were barred from returning to Turkmenistan to participate.
A Turkmen opposition leader whose has not been allowed to run complained Wednesday that no conditions existed for free and democratic elections in Turkmenistan.
"One should bear in mind that the political system of Niyazov remains in place, and that is incompatible with free elections," former Central Bank chief Khudaiberdy Orazov was quoted as saying in an interview published in Russia's Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
