Ashgabat (Turkmenistan) (AFP) - Polling stations closed in Turkmenistan Saturday in a tightly-controlled presidential election that is all but certain to yield ex-Soviet Central Asia's first father-son succession.
Nine candidates are in the fray in the isolated country of six million people, but few doubt that strongman Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov's 40-year-old son Serdar -- who has pledged to continue his father's course -- will take over the country's top job.
Berdymukhamedov senior, who is Turkmenistan's president, chair of the cabinet and senate chief, has been the regime's top decision-maker for the last 15 years.
The strongman known as the gas-rich country's "protector" has dominated public life since the country's founding president Saparmurat Niyazov died in 2006 and tolerates no dissent.Last month Berdymukhamedov said he would step aside and allow "young leaders" to govern, triggering a snap vote.
A state television announcer said on Saturday the elections showed "the irreversibility of the process of democratisation of modern Turkmen society".
Polling stations were busy on a cloudy day in the capital Ashgabat, with young Turkmen wearing either suits with black ties or embroidered ankle-length red dresses chatting and giggling in the queues.
Electoral authorities claimed an overall turnout of 97 percent after voting concluded at 7:00 pm local time (1400 GMT).
Gulya Agayeva, a 20-year-old student, said she had been encouraged to vote by her teachers.
"They said it is our civic duty, that our future depends on our choice," Agayeva told AFP, adding that she had cast her vote for Berdymukhamedov's son.
Preliminary results are expected to be announced at a press-conference on Sunday, a government source told AFP.
An inauguration ceremony has been scheduled for next Saturday, state media said.
'Most experienced' candidate
President Berdymukhamedov, 64, benefits from a glitzy personality cult that includes a golden statue of him on horseback and elicits comparisons to North Korea, which has already seen two hereditary successions.
Turkmen state television pays fawning tribute to his hobbies -- including horse riding, songwriting and rally car driving -- making the autocrat a phenomenon on foreign social media, all of which are blocked inside the country.
Berdymukhamedov, who claims Turkmenistan has not suffered a single case of coronavirus, said last month that he wished to remain in politics in his parallel role as chairman of the parliament's upper chamber.
Much less is known about Serdar Berdymukhamedov, whose government promotions received little public attention until he entered parliament in 2016.
Since then he has been a deputy foreign minister, the head of a province outside the capital and industry and construction minister.
Last year he won a triple promotion, taking up roles as deputy cabinet chair, auditor general and member of the security council.
Civil servant Selbi Nepesova, 39, told AFP that Serdar Berdymukhamedov's official biography proves he is "the most experienced" of the candidates, despite being younger than his rivals, most of whom are low-ranking government employees.
"He will have his father close by," the Ashgabat resident said, explaining her decision to vote for him.
Quiet on Ukraine
Turkmenistan's economy is almost wholly dependent on natural gas sales, making it vulnerable to external shocks that have crippled the purchasing power of citizens, who have no access to hard currency.
China has come to dominate this trade, with one-time top customer Russia's demand for the fuel now in doubt amid crippling sanctions over Moscow's decision to send troops to Ukraine.
Turkmen state media has almost completely ignored the bloody conflict.
But on Friday it referenced "complicated circumstances" in Ukraine in a report on the evacuation of Turkmen students forced to flee the pro-Western country.
The government mouthpiece gave the outgoing president credit for ensuring their evacuation.
The returning students "expressed their deep and sincere gratitude to the leader of the nation for his truly fatherly care", the state information service said.
Turkmenistan's widely-expected father-son transition will be the first of its kind in Central Asia.
Across the Caspian Sea in the Caucasus region, Azerbaijan became the first ex-Soviet country to establish a dynasty when President Ilham Aliyev took the helm upon father Heydar Aliyev's death in 2003.
Tajikistan, the ex-Soviet bloc's poorest successor state, is expected to follow a similar path, with upper house head Rustam Emomali, 34, in pole position to succeed veteran leader Emomali Rakhmon, 69, should Rakhmon retire or prove unable to fulfil his duties.
