On the glittering marble streets of Ashgabat, in the early weeks of 2012, something unusual was afoot. Official business was suspended due to impending elections and, sure enough, in bus shelters and on carefully selected walls, there were posters advertising the rival candidates. President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov was among them, of course, but so too were seven others.
In the February elections, however, normal service was resumed and Berdymukhamedov was returned to office with 97.4 per cent of the vote. This was scarcely surprising, since all his rival candidates called for a vote for the incumbent, not for themselves.
