Son succeeds father as Turkmenistan’s new president

The son of Turkmenistan’s former president was inaugurated Saturday as the brand new chief of the authoritarian Central Asian nation.

Serdar Berdymukhamedov, 40, took the oath of workplace per week after an election through which the central elections fee stated he received 73% of the vote. He had confronted eight different nominal contenders, all of whom praised his father, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, who grew to become president in 2006 and established a pervasive cult of character.

The elder Berdymukhamedov introduced his resignation final month and Serdar, who had been named to more and more outstanding authorities posts, most lately the Cupboard’s deputy chairman, was seen as his sure successor.

Turkmenistan, a nation of 6 million on the Caspian Sea, has lengthy been tough for outsiders to enter. It has not reported a single case of an infection within the coronavirus pandemic, a state of affairs questioned by medical consultants. It additionally has struggled to diversify its financial system, which is overwhelmingly depending on huge pure gasoline reserves.

However the brand new president stated at his inauguration that “We’re open to all nations and peoples of the world and goal to develop commerce, financial, cultural, humanitarian, scientific and academic ties with them sooner or later.”