(I was just wondering when we would here more from Turkmenistan)
11/02/2007 02h26
ASHGABAT (AFP) - Turkmenistan holds presidential elections on Sunday to elect a successor to late dictator Saparmurat Niyazov, with the gas-rich Central Asian republic's interim leader seen as guaranteed of victory.
This is to be Turkmenistan's first multi-candidate presidential poll, but analysts expect the result to be rigged in favour of acting president Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov. His five nominal rivals are little-known figures, while any real potential opponents live in foreign exile.
Polling stations were due to open across the ex-Soviet republic at 8:00 am (0300 GMT) and were to close at 6:00 pm (1300 GMT), with preliminary results expected by Monday and the official outcome Wednesday.
Many Turkmens express hopes that Berdymukhammedov, 49, will draw a line under the totalitarian Niyazov era and open up this desert nation of less than five million people to the outside world.
(more at link) <
http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/070211022303.s7mppdbw.html>