Tajik Lawmakers Approve Bill On President's Day

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon is speaking at the Paris climate change conference

DUSHANBE -- Tajik lawmakers have approved a bill to designate November 16 as President's Day.

According to the new legislation, President’s Day will remain a working day.

The bill passed in Tajik parliament's lower chamber on April 15 still must be approved by the upper chamber and endorsed by President Emomali Rahmon before becoming law.

On November 16, 1992, a session of the Tajik Supreme Council opened in the southern city of Khujand that three days later elected Rahmon as the council's chairman. This gave him the status of the Central Asian nation's leader, which he has held ever since.

A bill passed in December last year gave the 63-year-old Rahmon the title of "leader of the nation" and granted him and his relatives lifelong immunity from prosecution.

On May 22, Tajikistan is set to hold a referendum on constitutional amendments that would allow Rahmon to run for office for an indefinite number of times. He was elected to his fourth term as president in 2013.