[An Nahar] Turkmenistan's ruling party secured the most number of seats in legislative elections while a new party set up to diversify politics in the ultra-controlled state won its first-ever mandates, official results said Thursday.Sunday's elections were marked by a total lack of any opposition to the dominance of President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov over the gas-rich Central Asian state, despite being billed as the first multi-party polls in its history.
For the first time the elections included a party other than the ruling Democratic Party -- the Party of Industrialists and Businessmen of Turkmenistan which was founded in August 2012.
The Democratic Party took 47 of the 125 seats up for grabs in the Majlis parliament, while the Party of Industrialists took 14 seats, state newspapers and television announced Thursday. Voter turnout was a colossal 91.33 percent.
The other seats in the parliament went to representatives of trade unions, women's groups, young people's organizations and religious groups who are all staunchly pro-government.
When the new party was founded, Berdymukhamedov stepped down as head of the Democratic Party renouncing his membership in a bid to put himself above party politics and let some kind of political system develop.
But critics have noted that the Party of Industrialists has yet to express the slightest criticism of the president and Turkmenistan has nothing even resembling a democratic multi-party system.