nCa Report with a photo essay on elections
(To be updated with more photos later today)
(Second Update at 14:30, 15 February 2012 – Photo essay published separately at this URL: http://newscentralasia.net/2012/02/15/photo-essay-presidential-elections-in-turkmenistan/)
Update (4 pm, 13 Feb) — The central election commission has announced that preliminary counting of vote shows that Berdymuhamedov has secured 97.14% of cast votes. The voter turnout was 96.7%.
Ashgabat, 13 February 2012 (nCa) — It had been snowing intermittently for the last 48 hours. As presidential polls opened at 8 am on Sunday, the city of Ashgabat was covered with a white carpet of hardening snow.
The temperature outside was -6 C, and it didn’t get any better throughout the day. Despite the intimidating weather, the voters kept turning up in clusters. The turnout was rather thin in the morning but it picked up the pace by 10:30 am.
Polls started at 8 am and closed at 8 pm.
Four generations of Berdymuhamedovs came in a Zhiguli (Russian version of Fiat 124) car to cast their vote – President Berdymuhamedov, his father, his son and grandson. The grandson was obviously too young to vote but the elder Berdymuhamedovs exercised their right to vote at the polling station 11 in Chandybil district in Ashgabat.
The election commission, in collaboration with the foreign office, arranged for the foreign journalists accredited in Turkmenistan to visit some polling stations at look at the process of voting. In all, there were 29 journalists on the list, some of them had arrived just to cover the elections.
The bus toured took the journalists to four polling stations: a bread factory in Ashgabat, the agricultural university, a school in Ruhabat district just across the road from Turkmenbashy mosque-mausoleum complex, and a school in Abadan district.
The election commission reports that 96.28% of the registered voters had cast their votes in the elections by the close of the day.
A briefing will be held today (Monday) at the central election commission to inform the journalists about more details. The observer mission of CIS will also speak to the journalists today.
The central election commission, through its 71 offices at the district level, and full organizational and logistics support from the state authorities and local governments, managed to go through the whole process without any major hitches.
The election commission, in accordance with the laws of Turkmenistan, had declared 11 Feb the Day of Silence, which means that no candidates or their supporters were permitted to do any campaign work.
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Where each candidate went to cast his vote? (sorted alphabetically) |
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| Annageldy azmuradov | Polling station 66, Kopetdag district, Ashgabat |
| Esendurdy Gaipov | Polling station 16, Galkynysh, Lebap |
| Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov | Polling station 11, Chandybil district, Ashgabat |
| Gurbanmammet Mollaniyazov | Polling station 35, Balkanabat city, Balkan |
| Kakageldy Abdullayev | Polling station 3, Mary city |
| Rejep Bazarov | Polling station 16, Gubadag district, Dashoguz |
| Saparmurat Batyrov | Polling station 27, Azatlyk district of Ashgabat |
| Yarmuhammet Orazguliyev | Polling station 39, Kopetdag district, Ashgabat |
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Breakdown of polling stations, registered voters, and voter turnout |
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| Polling Stations | Registered Voters | % Voter Turnout | |
| Ashgabat | 194 | 302684 | 94.20% |
| Ahal | 343 | 446331 | 96.23% |
| Balkan | 251 | 248697 | 96.15% |
| Dashoguz | 445 | 640120 | 96.46% |
| Lebap | 523 | 646007 | 96.43% |
| Mary | 522 | 703485 | 96.94% |
| Turkmen missions abroad | 29 | ||
| Total | 2307 | 2987324 | 96.28% |
Presidential Elections in Turkmenistan — Story in Pictures
- The election officers were polite, patient and businesslike.
