Voters in Turkmenistan headed to the polls Sunday in a presidential election designed to cement the incumbent's hold on power in the authoritarian Central Asian nation.

At one polling station in Turkmenistan, loudspeakers blared out a song Sunday praising the nation's protector, which is how the president has now come to be known.

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP) - Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov won a new 5-year term by capturing 97% of the vote, election officials said Monday, but a Western expert called the vote a democratic sham.

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP) - Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov won a new five-year term by capturing 97 percent of the vote, election officials said Monday, but a Western expert called the vote a democratic sham.

Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov won a new five-year term by capturing 97 percent of the vote, election officials said Monday, but a Western expert called the vote a democratic sham.

The president of energy-rich Turkmenistan is an avid horseman, but he is unlikely ever to win a race as easily as this Sunday's election.

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan – Dragon Oil expects to employ three drilling rigs for all or part of this year on its fields in the Cheleken Contract Area of the Caspian Sea.

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan — Eight candidates are registered to compete in the presidential election in this isolated, energy-rich Central Asian nation, but the all-powerful incumbent's victory is so predictable his opponents are praising him.

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP) - Voting has begun in Turkmenistan's presidential election in a race designed to cement the incumbent's hold on power in the authoritarian Central Asian nation.

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