Although Turkmenistan’s eccentric and autocratic president-for-life, Saparmurat Niyazov, was short in physical stature, he has continued to cast a long shadow since his death two years ago. Only very gradually has his successor, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, begun to make moves to release the country from its self-imposed, Soviet-style isolation.

A new constitution was adopted in September which increased parliament’s powers and raised the number of seats from 65 to 125. This was followed by a parliamentary election on December 14th. Both were hailed as steps towards democracy. But all 288 candidates stressed their support of the president: they were either members of the ruling Democratic Party of Turkmenistan, launched by Niyazov, or were state-approved independents. The opposition is largely in exile. Voter turnout reportedly reached 94%, though little information was made available about the candidates or what they stood for.

The quickest and easiest way for Mr Berdymukhammedov to put a stamp on his own rule has been to start dismantling his predecessor’s bizarre personality cult. The huge rotating gold statue of Niyazov may continue to tower over Ashgabat, the capital, but the months of the year were returned to their original names last spring. Niyazov had renamed them in 2002: April was called Gurbansoltan, in honour of his mother, and September was Ruhnama, the title of his spiritual book, which was mandatory reading in school.

During his two years in office, the new president has authorised the opening of internet cafés and lifted the ban on the opera and the circus. He has increased the number of years children attend school and restored pensions withdrawn under Niyazov to more than 100,000 people. On December 15th, parliament decided to revise the national anthem by removing all references to the late president. Though Human Rights Watch still calls Turkmenistan “one of the most repressive and authoritarian states in the world”, there have been some real improvements, of a kind.

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