After some delay to finish vote counting in the election of 3/13, Serdar Berdymukhamedov, son of the current president, is elected president with 73% of the vote.

Central Election Commission announces that presidential election will be held 3/12 at the request of the president, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, who hints that he may resign. His son Serdar, a deputy prime minister, is assumed to be his likely successor.

Berdymukhamedov reappears in public, contradicting rumors last month that he had died of kidney failure. The country remains in dire economic straits, with chronic food shortages.

Turkmenistan economy spiraling out of control, with the world’s second highest inflation rate, nearly 350%, and unemployment at about 50%. The government is doing little to improve the situation.