According to the Central Election Commission of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, the president of Turkmenistan, secured a third term in office by winning 97.69 percent of the vote in the February 12 election.
The election commission announced the result on February 13, a day after an election. The commission put the turnout at more than 97 percent of eligible voters.
Some media reports says Berdymukhamedov who has been in power since 2006, ran against little-known regional government officials on a ballot that includes candidates from more than one party for the first time.
Reuters reports eight other candidates included public servants, managers of state-owned companies or nominees of political parties completely loyal to the government.
State media reportedly gave little coverage to the other eight candidates' election campaigns, occasionally showing brief clips of meetings with voters
Berdymukhamedov cast his vote at a school in Ashgabat, accompanied by family members including his son, who was elected to parliament last year.
"If I am elected, then our policies aimed at improving the welfare of the people will continue," he told reporters.
Last year, Turkmenistan amended its constitution in a way that could allow Berdymukhamedov to stay in power indefinitely, removing the 70-year age limit for presidential candidates and extending the presidential term to seven years from five.
Berdymukhamedov became president when Saparmurat Niyazov died in 2006. Niyazov, Turkmenistan's first head of state after the fall of the Soviet Union, had styled himself as "father of the Turkmen people."
Radio Liberty reports that calling himself Arkadag, the Protector, Berdymukhamedov had a 21-meter marble and gold-leaf statue of himself on horseback, holding a dove, erected in Ashgabat in 2015.
