INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Serdar Berdymukhamedov, the son of outgoing Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, won a snap election with 73% of the vote and will
succeed his father, the Central Asian nation&s Central Election Commission said on Tuesday, Reuters reported.The victory of 40-year-old
Serdar Berdymukhamedov was widely expected after his father elevated him to the No.2 position in the country as a deputy prime minister,
clearly indicating that he was the designated successor, Reuters reported.There are no strong political opposition groups in the gas-rich
desert nation of six million which borders Iran and Afghanistan in the south.Eight other candidates ran in the election, some of them
largely unknown low-level public servants
Under the Turkmen constitution, the president is elected for a seven-year term.Serdar Berdymukhamedov is commonly referred to by local media
as &the son of the nation,& while his 64-year-old father & who intends to stay on as the speaker of the upper house & is known as Arkadag,
or Protector, Reuters reported.The post Turkmen leader&s son wins presidency in snap vote first appeared on Ariana News.
