Tajik Leader Set To Extend Authoritarian Rule

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon appears assured of winning a fifth term in office in an election on October 11, after dispelling speculation that he was grooming his son to succeed him. Weeks before the poll, the 68-year-old announced that he would be running again. Rahmon rose to power during the country's civil war in the early 1990s, before extinguishing opposition and tightening his grip over the Central Asian nation.