NEWSMAKER-Tajik leader gears up for long reign after vote
03 Nov 2006 11:13:01 GMT Source: Reuters
By Maria Golovnina DUSHANBE, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Tajik leader Imomali Rakhmonov is set to win next week's presidential election, extending his rule that has given few chances for dissent during 14 years running the impoverished Central Asian nation. The 54-year-old former Soviet farm boss has presented himself as a man who brought peace and stability to Tajikistan after a civil war in the 1990s that killed tens of thousands of people. "Tajikistan's status in the world depends on the results of this election," Rakhmonov told his nation last month. The country has never held an election judged free and fair by Western observers and the fragmented opposition is boycotting the Nov. 6 vote in protest. His opponents have accused Rakhmonov of eliminating dissent and cracking down on media freedom and human rights. Tajikistan is a small Muslim country bordering Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, China and Kyrgyzstan. Poverty remains rife with an average monthly wage around $30. Rakhmonov has carefully manoeuvred between his two key allies, Russia and the United States, maintaining good ties with both Moscow, its former Soviet overlord, and Washington, which sees Tajikistan as an ally in its global war on terror. De facto head of state from 1992 and elected president two years later, Rakhmonov received a new, seven-year term in November 1999 from a 96 percent majority after his only rival was registered as a candidate just hours before the vote. Human rights bodies branded the election "a farce". Rakhmonov, tall and burly, has overseen constitutional changes that allow him to stay in power until 2020. He has already served two terms in office. Yet many still see Rakhmonov as the saviour of the nation, although the exact number of his supporters is unclear since there are no independent pollsters. Rakhmonov, then aged 40, headed the mountainous nation in 1992 after the secular government clashed with Islamic guerrillas. He was wounded in an assassination attempt during a visit to the hostile north in April 1997, just two months before his Moscow-backed government clinched a peace deal with Islamists. The peace agreement which officially ended the 1992-97 civil war brought little stability. Crime is rampant in the country which has turned into a major transit route for cheap heroin flowing from Afghanistan to Western Europe. People on the street are growing increasingly disillusioned. "The president keeps saying that everything will be ok," said Marifat Khoshimova, a 67-year-old pensioner. "But things are just like they were before: no gas, prices are rising and pensions are tiny." (additional reporting by Roman Kozhevnikov)
