DUSHANBE: Tajikistan’s presidential election was held on Wednesday, while incumbent President Imomali Rakhmon is expected to win another seven-year term.
Preliminary results of the polls across the central Asian country are expected on Thursday.
The 61-year-old Rakhmon has been in office for more than 20 years. He remained victorious in 1994, 1999 and 2006 presidential elections and is expected to easily win a fourth term in office and can lead the country until 2020.
The president is facing five challengers, but they are relatively unknown figures, who have largely refrained from criticizing government policies during the state-sponsored presidential election campaign.
The opposition Social Democrat Party announced last week that it would boycott the polls because of “violations of the constitution, organized falsifications and a lack of democracy and transparency.”
While Human rights activists Oynihol Bobonazarova, widely seen as the only genuine opposition candidate, is banned from the presidential polls because she could not gather the 210,000 signatures required to register her candidacy.
