election day!

Today was election day in Turkmenistan. For only the second time since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the people of Turkmenistan had an opportunity to "choose" their next President. Of course it's already in the bag. It was never even out of the bag. In speaking with people, or trying to speak with people, I've come to realize that many people here are reluctant to discuss politics. This is hardly surprising, though I had hoped people would be more forthcoming since I am clearly not a Kazakh spy.

While perusing for additional articles, I was mildly pleased to see news of the election had made it to the Washington Post. Further information can be found from the Financial Times and you can even see who all the other candidates are courtesy of Radio Free Europe. After learning about the stiff opposition the current President will face, the next most interesting thing about the Radio Free article was the quote from the Commonwealth of Independent States group stating that the election had "equal opportunities" for all candidates. Yes, "equal". That's only slightly more of an exaggeration than when that one network calls itself "fair & balanced".