- Title: Tajikistan votes in referendum to strengthen Rakhmon's grip on power
- Date: 22nd May 2016
- Summary: RAKHMON'S PORTRAIT
- Embargoed: 6th June 2016 10:26
- Keywords: Tajikistan referendum Imomali Rakhmon president vote
- Location: DUSHANBE, TAJIKISTAN
- City: DUSHANBE, TAJIKISTAN
- Country: Tajikistan
- Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
- Reuters ID: LVA0044IW1SUF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: President Imomali Rakhmon seems set to strengthen his power via a referendum on Sunday (May 22) as Tajikistan, on the front line against militancy and crime from neighbouring Afghanistan, sinks deeper into an economic crisis and simmering discontent.
Many of the hundreds of thousands of Tajiks working in recession-hit Russia have been forced to return home, either because they lost their jobs or because their wages were no longer sufficient following the Russian rouble's devaluation.
There have been no major public protests in the authoritarian state, but political tensions are on the rise. In September, a general and former opposition fighter was killed in a gunfight with government forces after a failed attempt to seize power from Rakhmon.
Sunday's referendum seeks the public vote on 41 constitutional amendments drafted by a loyal government. In power since 1994, Rakhmon wants to scrap the limit on presidential terms to prevent his current term ending in 2020 from being his last one.
The proposals would also lower the minimum age for presidential candidates, allowing Rakhmon's elder son Rustam, who runs the state financial control agency, to run for office if he chooses to do so.
In addition, Rakhmon wants a constitutional ban on religious parties to shore up a court shutdown of the opposition Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) last year. Some of its leaders face life in jail on charges of plotting a coup. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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