Turkmenistan's parliament has set a presidential election for Feb. 12, state media reported on Friday, after last month's promise by the gas-rich nation's strongman leader to let the opposition take part in the polls, Reuters reported. Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov was elected president in February 2007 in what the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said "could hardly be called elections", adding that they "were not absolutely free and fair". Berdymukhamedov, a dentist aged 54, replaced Saparmurat Niyazov, who suddenly died in December 2006 after a 21-year autocratic rule marked by a bizarre personality cult. Berdymukhamedov has let in a whiff of economic freedom in his reclusive Central Asian nation of 5.4 million people which holds the world's fourth-largest natural gas reserves. But like his predecessor, he continues to enjoy virtually unlimited powers, and the desert country remains one of the most repressive and reclusive in the world. Seeking closer ties with the West as Turkmenistan seeks new gas export routes to bypass its former imperial master Russia, Berdymukhamedov in July made an appeasing gesture to opposition groups living in exile to come and take part in the polls. Berdymukhamedov, who brooks no dissent and is widely expected to be easily re-elected, has vowed that the upcoming election would be "a proof of our maturing democracy" and given guarantees of safety to any exiled opponent willing to run. The small and disparate opposition reacted cautiously to Berdymukhamedov's invitation, saying it would first prefer to work out jointly with the government a clear, OSCE-monitored mechanism for its safe return and participation in the election. But despite Berdymukhamedov's pledges, Turkmenistan's laws in force create huge obstacles for any candidate representing the exiled opposition. -- SPA
