Tajikistan’s President Reelected for Fifth Term

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon (Wikipedia)

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has begun his fifth term as president. Rahmon won reelection decisively, securing his presidency in a landslide victory that saw him carry 90.92 percent of the vote in the October 11 election. The reelected president celebrated his inauguration at the Palace of the Nation in the capital of Dushanbe on October 30. 

Rahmon has led Tajikistan for close to three decades, having first come to power in 1992 in the midst of the bloody Tajikistani Civil War following the breakup of the Soviet Union, which killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than a million civilians. Rahmon holds the distinction of being one of the longest leaders in the world currently in power and the longest-ruling president of a former Soviet republic. By winning reelection, Rahmon will serve another seven-year term in office until 2027. As he already removed term limits via constitutional reform in 2016, he may run for a sixth term.

 While the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OCSE) independently monitored the election, the four other presidential contenders did not pose a significant challenge to Rahmon’s prospects. The primary opposition to Rahmon’s People’s Democratic Party, the Social Democratic Party, boycotted the election. In 2015, the government designated another opposing political faction known as the Islamic Renaissance Party as a terrorist organization and barred it from participating in future elections. Additionally, Tajik authorities report that approximately 85 percent of the Central Asian country’s eligible voters participated in the election.

Many speculated in the lead-up to the election that Rahmon might not seek another term and allow his eldest son, Rustam, to seek the presidency. Any rumors of succession soon dissipated, however, with Rahmon’s announcement of his candidacy in late August. Though his father did not tap him for office, Rustam currently serves as the speaker of the upper house of the Tajik parliament, a position that would allow him to easily replace his father in coming years.

Rahmon began his fifth term in office by issuing a series of statements that signal his commitment to improving living conditions in Tajikistan. The small Persian-speaking country remains one of the poorest states in Central Asia, and Rahmon has pledged to take action by pursuing development strategies that aim to make Tajikistan energy independent within the next seven years, and he aims to guarantee food security and expand public transport.

While recent elections in former Soviet republics such as Belarus and neighboring Kyrgyzstan have witnessed widespread popular demonstrations and unrest, Tajikistan’s recent election has remained remarkably calm in comparison.