On the surface, there's not much room for intrigue in Turkmenistan's politics. Elections have never been particularly competitive in the Central Asian country, and President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov is all but guaranteed to win the presidential race on Feb. 12. After all, he took home 89 percent of the vote in 2007 (officially, at least) and 97 percent in 2012. Before that, the country was ruled by Saparmurat Niyazov, the infamous "president for life" who held power from post-Soviet independence until his death in 2006. Clearly, Turkmenistan is accustomed to political continuity, and there is no reason to think the upcoming polls will change that. This sort of political stability is fairly unique among Central Asian states . Turkmenistan has not experienced a revolution or civil war in its modern history, as Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have. Nor has instability bred vulnerability to militant attacks, as it has in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.