Turkmens to announce and install new leader

ASHGABAT, Feb 14 (Reuters) Turkmenistan was to announce and then inaugurate its new leader today in the presence of foreign dignitaries who hope to sway the gas-rich Central Asian state's long-term energy policy.

Ruled for two decades with iron fist by Saparmurat Niyazov, who died in December, the country sought to maintain a sense of mystery around who won a weekend poll, though it was almost certain to be acting leader Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov and US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher all flew to Ashgabat to hear the results in the company of hundreds of Turkmen village elders wearing big woolly telpek hats.

The election, described as ''not free and fair'' by the head of a group of parliamentarians from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe who watched the poll, is being seen by the West as a chance for gradual change.

Human rights groups and a leading international think tank have cautioned that Berdymukhamedov is a relative unknown and his prospective government should show progress on human rights and reform before being rewarded with trade and aid.

The election pitted the acting leader against five lower profile candidates from the nation's only legal political party.

The exiled opposition, many of whom are former ministers who fell out of Niyazov's favour, accused the West of tacitly accepting a new dictatorship in Turkmenistan in pursuit of gas.

Russia and its gas monopoly Gazprom are now the key benefactors of that natural gas, buying it at below-market prices as it flows down a Soviet-era pipeline. Iran also buys its gas through a smaller pipeline.

Energy-hungry China is pushing a plan to build a new pipeline towards its territory while Europe and the United States would like to see gas flow under the Caspian Sea towards Europe and bypassing Russia.

The list of other dignitaries due to attend the ceremony included Ismail Amat, a vice-chairman of China's parliament, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and the leaders of Ukraine and Georgia, two states that buy Turkmen gas via Russia.

A Western diplomat in Ashgabat defended the policy of engagement, saying Western nations would want to see real progress on democracy and human rights.

''You can take an obese person and tell them that they need to lose weight,'' the diplomat said. ''Until you see the pounds coming off there's no proof they've absorbed the message...(but) a crash diet is bad, you're looking for sustainable change.'' Reuters AD VP0600