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Russian-led grouping declares Turkmen vote fair
By ALEXANDER VERSHININ,Associated Press Writer AP - 1 hour 54 minutes ago
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan - A Russian-dominated group on Monday called Turkmenistan's parliamentary election free and open, but critics said the vote in the Central Asian nation was a sham and disputed the official turnout figure.
The parliamentary polls were the first since the death in late 2006 of idiosyncratic leader Saparmurat Niyazov, who ruled the former Soviet republic and natural gas-rich nation with an iron fist for more than two decades.
"The election of parliamentary deputies was held in accordance with the country's election laws and generally accepted standards for democratic elections," said Sergei Lebedev, a Russian who is executive secretary of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
The CIS, which comprises 11 former Soviet republics, sent observers to monitor the vote in Turkmenistan, whose energy riches make it a target of courtship by both Russia and the West. Moscow has lobbied in recent years to seal long-term supplies of Turkmen gas, while the U.S. and Europe are seeking to decrease Russia's dominance over export routes for the commodity.
The CIS assessment of the elections echoed Turkmen government statements about the vote. Niyazov's successor, President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov, has sought to cast it as an important step in boosting democratic standards.
But most of the candidates came from the only permitted political party, and none were opponents of the president.
The Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights, an exiled group operating from Europe, has dismissed the vote as undemocratic. It disputed the official turnout figure of 94 percent in a report on its Web site, claiming real turnout may not have exceeded 30 percent.
"All the markets and shops were operating as normal. Almost all shopkeepers and many customers were either unaware of the election, or did not consider it necessary to take part," the group said.
CIS monitors in the past have given positive assessments of several former Soviet elections criticized by Western governments and observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which includes the United States and European nations in addition to former Soviet republics. The OSCE did not send a full-fledged monitoring mission.
Election officials said results would be announced by Wednesday.
___
Associated Press Writer Peter Leonard contributed to this report from Almaty, Kazakhstan.
(This version CORRECTS Corrects CIS chief's title, graf 3)
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