Turkmenistan To Pick Candidates

Members in a council of elders in Turkmenistan have agreed to a Feb. 11 date to "pick" the candidates to run in the upcoming election to replace Saparmurat Niyazov, their forceful leader who died last week.

(AFP) "These elections will be of the highest standards," said Murad Karryev, head of Turkmenistan's central electoral commission. The country's interim president Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov has said that the elections will be "democratic".

Yes, because 2,500 people "picking" the candidates for the rest of the country has the smell of "democratic" elections.