Tajikistan’s strongman leader wins re-election

DUSHANBE, Tajikistan: Tajikistan’s leader Emomali Rakhmon was re-elected with over 90 per cent of the vote on Monday following a presidential poll in which he faced only token opposition.

The win will allow the 68-year-old strongman to pass three decades in power and overtake Kazakhstan’s recently retired Nursultan Nazarbayev as the former Soviet Union’s longest-ruling leader.

The Central Electoral Commission said that 90.9 percent of voters in Sunday’s poll had cast their ballot for Rakhmon who will secure a fresh seven-year term, according to preliminary results.Turnout was over 85 percent, according to the Central Electoral Commission.