ASHGABAT -- Election officials in the tightly controlled Central Asian nation of Turkmenistan have registered two more presidential candidates known as being loyal to the authoritarian President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov.
On February 11, the long-time authoritarian leader Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, 64, indicated at an extraordinary meeting of the upper chamber of parliament that he intends to step aside to allow power to be turned over to “young leaders.” Most observers interpreted that as meaning that he is preparing to hand the reins to his son.
The officials announced over the weekend that lawmaker Berdymammet Gurbanov and Perhat Begenjov, the director of a regional vocational school, had been officially registered as candidates for the early presidential election scheduled for March 12.
According to the announcement, Gurbanov and Begenjov do not represent any political parties.
The poll is expected to be easily won by incumbent Berdymukhammedov's son, Serdar Berdymukhammedov.
The officials said a week earlier that 40-year-old Serdar Berdymukhammedov was officially registered as a presidential candidate representing the ruling Democratic Party of Turkmenistan following the opening of the nomination process from the country's three registered political parties. All three parties support the current president.
A deputy governor of the southeastern region of Mary, Agajan Bekmuradov, nominated by the Agrarian party of Turkmenistan, was registered a presidential candidate last week.
The third registered party -- the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan -- has yet to nominate its candidate.
Rumors have been swirling for a year that Berdymukhammedov will attempt to transfer power to his son, Serdar, who in September turned 40, the minimum age required to become president under the country's constitution.
Four exiled opposition activists and politicians -- Ahmet Rahmanov, Murat Gurbanov, Geldy Kyarizov, and Nurmuhammet Annaev -- have said they plan to take part in the presidential election
It is unclear how they would be able to run in the presidential election as they would not be allowed to return to Turkmenistan.
According to rights groups and election monitors, Turkmenistan has never held free and fair elections since becoming an independent state following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.