Answer
Following Saparmyrat Niyazow’s death in 2006, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow was appointed acting president by the Mejlis, the unicameral parliament of Turkmenistan. Berdimuhamedow had been serving as the first vice president and head of the Security Council, and was a close ally of Niyazow. He was subsequently elected president in 2007 with 99.7 percent of the vote.