But Turkmenistan remains one of the world’s most closed countries, and ranks 177th out of 180 countries for press freedom, ahead of Iran, Eritrea and North Korea, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Officially the nation has not recorded a single case of Covid-19.
“I watched the presidential inauguration, many people were expecting big reforms from the new president,” said entrepreneur Maksat Radzenov.
“We hoped that new factories would be built, the country would open up, tourists would arrive, the state would become easier to control,” he told AFP.
Achir Oveyzov, who works in an Ashgabat market, said he would not vote.
“I have to work day and night to feed my family and I don’t know the candidate,” he said.