Veteran Tajikistan president wins 5th term

By Bahtiyar Abdulkerimov

TASHKENT, Tajikistan (AA) - Tajikistan's veteran President Emomali Rahmon has won his fifth term, receiving 90.92% of votes, the head of the central election commission said on Monday.

Bahtiyar Hudayarzade told a press conference that the voter turnout was 85.39% in Sunday's election -- 4.2 of 4.9 million registered voters exercised their democratic right.

As many as 3,375 polling stations were established in 68 constituencies.

Tajik citizens abroad also cast their votes in 39 polling booths established in different countries.

Hudayarzade said Agrarian Party leader Rustam Latifzadeh received 3.03%, while Abduhalim Gafarov, the chairman of the Socialist Party of Tajikistan, got 1.49% of the votes.

Rustam Rahmatzoda, the leader of Party of Economic Reforms, won support of 2.15% of the voters, while Communist Party Chairman Miroj Abdulloyev secured 1.17% of the votes.

The Tajikistan president is elected for a 7-year term. The last elections were held in 2013, also won by Rahmon. The 68-year-old is running the Persian-speaking nation of 9.5 million people since 1992, a period including a civil war.