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Of: TT
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Photo: UNTV / AP / TT
Tajikistan President Emomalii Rahmon during his pre-recorded video address at the UN General Assembly on September 22. Stock Photography.
He has attached an iron grip to the country after nearly three decades in power. The authoritarian president of Tajikistan, Emomalii Rahmon, has a landslide victory in the elections. If all goes according to plan, he will be the longest-serving leader in the former Soviet Union.
Rahmon faces four other candidates, but none of them are seen as presenting any real opposition to the president.
Polling stations are open until 8pm Sunday (5pm Swedish time) and the result is expected on Monday morning.
– He who always wins, wins again, says student Abdukholik with a smile to the AFP news agency.
– We are still waiting for free elections, he adds.
Amended the constitution
Extensive protests have recently erupted following controversial elections in neighboring Kyrgyzstan and Belarus, which, like Tajikistan, were once part of the Soviet Union. But at present it seems unlikely that something similar will happen in Tajikistan.
State media portray Rahmon as a guarantor of stability in the country after the bloody civil war that followed in the 1990s when Tajikistan became its own nation for the first time after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Since Rahmon came to power in 1992, he and the ruling People’s Democratic Party have won every election, all of which have been questioned by Western election observers. In 2016, changes were made to the constitution that allowed Rahmon to run for president as many times as he wanted.
At the same time, the age limit to run in the presidential election was lowered from 35 to 30, cautiously opening the door for Rahmon’s 32-year-old son Rustam to take office if the 68-year-old father dies or is forced to resign for other reasons. Human rights organizations have sounded the alarm about increasing repression against the opposition and the media since the changes were implemented.
Waiting for a raise
Preschool director Saida Rakhimova hopes the government will ensure that wages and pensions can be increased in the poor country.
– We believe in him, we trust him, he tells AFP about Rahmon, who hopes that he will remain in power for a long time.
With Rahmon’s expected new seven-year term, he will soon become the longest-serving leader in the former Soviet Union. The current record is held by the former President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, who resigned in 2019 after 29 years in power.
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