Turkmenistan Leader's Son Elected MP

The son of energy-rich Turkmenistan's leader Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has been elected as an MP, the government said on Wednesday, giving the president's family a growing role in the isolated country.   

The Turkmenistan electoral commission confirmed that Serdar Berdymukhamedov, whose age has not been made public, had won a seat in the parliament -- a rubber stamp body where all the MPs support the president -- after taking 83 percent of the vote in a by-election in the ex-Soviet Central Asian country.

On Tuesday evening, state television had reported that the president's only known son, who was previously head of a foreign ministry department, had won a by-election in the small town of Dushak in the southern Akhal province bordering Iran.

Berdymukhamedov's family has rarely been seen in public up till now and the entry into the legislature of the president's son -- whose name in Turkmen means "leader" -- signals a break with tradition.

The wife of the president, who also has two daughters, has never been seen in public.

The eccentric previous president Saparmurat Niyazov, who died in 2006, was notorious for renaming months after his relatives, but they never played any visible role in politics. 

Since assuming power after Niyazov's death, 59-year-old Berdymukhamedov has scaled back his predecessor's larger-than-life personality cult, while allowing his own to grow. 

Under Berdymukhamedov, Niyazov's image has disappeared from bank notes and the "book of the soul" that he authored is no longer required reading for school students.

Berdymukhamedov also moved a golden statue of Niyazov -- who gave himself the title Turkmenbashi (leader of all Turkmen) during his reign -- to the suburbs of the white-marble capital while it no longer rotates to face the sun. 

In September, the country passed constitutional changes removing the upper age limit for serving presidents, paving the way for Berdymukhamedov's lifelong rule. 

Turkmenistan's known reserves of natural gas are estimated to be the fourth largest in the world, although its economy has suffered from falling energy prices. 

In other countries of ex-Soviet Central Asia, the presidents' children have taken up prominent positions.

In oil-rich Kazakhstan, long-reigning autocrat Nursultan Nazarbayev's eldest daughter Dariga has a seat in the legislature, and is viewed as a potential successor to the 76-year-old.

In impoverished Tajikistan, President Emomali Rakhmon's son Rustam heads the national anti-corruption agency and his daughter Ozoda Rakhmon is his chief of staff.