Portal:Turkmenistan/Selected biography/1
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Gurbanguly Mälikgulyýewiç Berdimuhamedow (born 29 June 1957) is a Turkmen politician and former dentist who is currently the Chairman of the People's Council of Turkmenistan. He previously served as the 2nd President of Turkmenistan from 2006 to 2022, when he entered into a power-sharing arrangement with his son, Serdar, the current president.
As a former dentist, Berdimuhamedow served in the government of the president, Saparmyrat Niyazow, as the Minister of Health in 1997 and as the 3rd Vice President in 2001. He became acting president following Niyazow's death on 21 December 2006 and subsequently won the 2007 presidential election. He faced no meaningful opposition and won by an overwhelming margin with 89% of the vote. In 2012, he was re-elected for a second term with 97% of the vote and he was re-elected again in 2017 with 97.7% of the vote. He was among the candidates elected to the People's Council of Turkmenistan on 28 March 2021, as a member from Ahal Region. He reportedly received 100% of votes from the electors. On 14 April 2021, he was unanimously elected chairman of the People's Council, the upper chamber of the Turkmen parliament. (Full article...)