Early results show Tajik president has won election

President Emomali Rakhmonov has been re-elected with 79.3% of the vote, according to preliminary results in Tajikistan’s presidential poll.

Central Elections Commission Chairman Boltoiu Merzoali said on national television today that the next closest candidate in yesterday’s polling won only 6.2% of the vote. He said Rakhmonov had 79.3% of the vote, based on a count of 9% of the ballots.

Rakhmonov had been widely expected to win the election amid widespread concerns over the fairness of the vote. The three most-established opposition parties either boycotted the polling or refused to field candidates, accusing authorities of limiting access to the media and putting up artificial obstacles to campaigning.

Election observers for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe were expected to release their preliminary report on the Tajik vote later today.

Yesterday’s election was the second presidential ballot in the ex-Soviet republic since a civil war pitting Islamic forces against the Moscow-backed government that killed more than 30,000 people and displaced nearly 1 million.