Tajikistan votes in presidential election

By Bahtiyar Abdulkerimov

TASHKENT, Tajikistan (AA) – Voters in Tajikistan on Sunday cast ballots to elect their president.

The voting ended at 8 p.m. local time (1500GMT). The vote-counting is underway.

As many as 3,495,215 voters cast votes in 3,375 ballot boxes, said Bahtiyar Hudayarzade, head of the Central Election Commission.

Five candidates are competing in the election: President Emomali Rahmon; Rustam Latifzadeh, leader of the Agrarian Party; Abduhalim Gafarov, chairman of the Socialist Party of Tajikistan; Rustam Rahmatzoda, leader of Party of Economic Reforms, and Miroj Abdulloyev, chairman of the Communist Party.

The previous presidential election was held in 2013 in Tajikistan. Rahmon, who received 83.92% of the votes, won the polls for the fourth time.