Turkmenistan 2007
Yearbook 2007 Turkmenistan. In February, Gurbanguli Berdimuchammedov was elected Turkmenistan's new president. He succeeded "the father of all Turkmen", the dictator Saparmurat Nijazov, who had died the year before. According to CountryAAH, Ashgabat is the capital city of Turkmenistan. Berdimuchammedov was said to have received close to 90 percent of the vote, and participation was said to be over 98 percent. But this was the first time Turkmenistan held presidential elections with several candidates, and European election observers said that although it was not a free and fair election, it was a step forward in view of the authoritarian rule that prevailed in the country so far. President Berdimuchammedov gave the outside world some hope for political openness. He reintroduced pensions, maternity benefits and sickness benefits which the former leader…