Turkmenistan will be having a snap presidential election on March 12 and the winner looks to be dynastic rule.
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov signaled the change in leadership at a February 11 session of the Halk Maslahaty, or People’s Council, when he said it was time for a new generation to take the reins of power.
The next day, Turkmenistan’s Central Election Commission named the date for the presidential election.
There will be other candidates, but the president’s only son, Serdar, is sure to win.
On this week's Majlis podcast, RFE/RL's media-relations manager for South and Central Asia, Muhammad Tahir, moderates a discussion on what Turkmenistan can expect as the presidency passes from father to son.
This week’s guests are: from Washington, D.C., former U.S. Ambassador to Turkmenistan Laura Kennedy; from the Netherlands, Ruslan Myatiev, the founder of the independent Turkmen.news website; from Scotland, Luca Anceschi, who is a professor of Central Asian Studies at Glasgow University and author of the book Turkmenistan’s Foreign Policy -- Positive Neutrality And The Consolidation Of The Turkmen regime; and Central Asia analyst Bruce Pannier.
Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes or on Google Podcasts.
