Date Set For Tajik Presidential Election

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon is widely expected to run for a fourth term.

Tajikistan's parliament has set November 6 as the date for the country's next presidential elections.

The move on August 30 came in a unanimous vote by lawmakers from all five political parties in the legislature during a joint meeting of the parliament's upper and lower chambers.

President Emomali Rahmon is widely expected to run for a fourth term. He won the last election on November 6, 2006 with the controversial official results showing he got 79 percent of the vote.

Rahmon has served as Tajikistan's head of state since 1992 and has been president since 1994.

He won a 2003 referendum allowing him to run for reelection in 2006 and this year.

He leads the ruling People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan.

In the spring, Rahmon vowed that the elections would be free and transparent.


Based on reporting by AFP and ITAR-TASS