TASHKENT, February 13. /TASS/. Extraordinary elections of the president of Turkmenistan scheduled to March 12 are neither more nor less than transition of power in the country, Uzbek political analyst and Central Asia specialist Ravshan Nazarov told TASS.
"President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow spoke on February 11 at the meeting of Halk Maslahaty [the upper house of the Turkmenistan’s legislative assembly - TASS] with an unexpected, to say nothing of sensational, statement that he reached the age of prophet [became 63 years’ old - TASS] as early as two years ago and wanted to discuss a difficult decision about himself he had arrived at," Nazarov said. The expert community concluded immediately that Berdimuhamedow had initiated the final stage of transition of power he was preparing for several years, the analyst said.
Specialists have no doubts that the successor to the incumbent president of Turkmenistan will be his only son Serdar, who has recently reached the age of 40 and is eligible for presidential elections under local laws, the expert added.
Such forecasts were confirmed on Saturday, when the lower house of the Turkmen parliament passed the resolution on extraordinary presidential elections. According to local mass media reports, the central election commission of Turkmenistan already started preparations for these elections.