Serdar Berdymukhamedov, the son of outgoing Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, won a snap election with 73% of the vote and will succeed his father, the Central Asian nation's Central Election Commission said on Tuesday, Reuters reported.The victory of 40-year-old Serdar Berdymukhamedov was widely expected after his father elevated him to the No.2 position in the country as a deputy prime minister, clearly indicating that he was the designated successor, Reuters reported.There are no strong political opposition groups in the gas-rich desert nation of six million which borders Iran and Afghanistan in the south.Eight other candidates ran in the election, some of them largely unknown low-level public servants.
Under the Turkmen constitution, the president is elected for a seven-year term.Serdar Berdymukhamedov is commonly referred to by local media as ''the son of the nation,& while his 64-year-old father & who intends to stay on as the speaker of the upper house & is known as Arkadag, or Protector, Reuters reported.The post Turkmen leader's son wins presidency in snap vote first appeared on Ariana News.