News Manager
Milforums News Bot
By Roman Kozhevnikov DUSHANBE (Reuters) - Tajikistan's president, Imomali Rakhmon, has won a new seven-year term after his only serious rival was barred from running, but he faces a challenge to ensure stability in a volatile country that borders Afghanistan. The Moscow-backed strongman leader, at the helm of the poorest former-Soviet nation since 1992, keeps Tajikistan's small and disparate opposition in check, and civil society is weak. Rakhmon received 83.1 percent of the vote in Wednesday's election after all ballots were counted, Central Election Commission Chairman (CEC) Shermukhammad Shokhiyon told a news briefing. His only serious rival, 65-year-old rights activist Oynihol Bobonazarova, had said her backers had been obstructed in trying to gather the 210,000 signatures needed to run.More...