Early presidential elections in Turkmenistan have been scheduled for March 12, the republic’s Central Election Commission told TASS on Saturday.

“Yes, the president has given an instruction to hold them,” the Central Election Commission said.

As the Turkmen state information agency reported, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov said at a session of the upper house of the republic’s parliament on February 11 that he had made “an uneasy decision on himself” and pointed out that the road to the bodies of power at a new stage of the country’s development must be given to young leaders.

He also said that he intended to further channel his “vast life and political experience” into this sphere.

Source: Azerbaijan State News Agency