President of Turkmenistan quits party

Turkmenistan’s president has stepped down from his post as leader of the ruling party ahead of a parliamentary election that for the first time will feature two competing parties.

President Gurbanbuly Berdymukhamedov said on state television that his decision was aimed at giving both parties an equal chance in the December election.

A business-oriented political party created a year ago is likely to end the Democratic Party’s two-decade-long monopoly in parliament.

Both parties support Mr Berdymukhamedov.

The Democratic Party was created in 1991 on the basis of the dissolved Communist Party.