The US State Department has named Rustam Emomali, the eldest son of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, as his father’s successor. This is stated in the annual report of the US Department on the situation with human rights in different countries of the world.
The authors of the document emphasized that after Dushanbe Mayor Rustam Emomali took the post of speaker of the upper house of the Tajik parliament in April 2020, he became the second person in the state and the first in line for the presidency.
At the same time, according to analysts, the 2020 parliamentary elections, like the presidential elections held in the same year, were “neither free nor fair.”
The State Department considers Tajikistan an authoritarian state, which has been ruled by Emomali Rahmon for more than 30 years, concentrating power in his own hands. For example, all law enforcement agencies of the republic and the Customs Service report directly to the president.
“While the country’s constitution provides for a multi-party system, the government has historically hindered political pluralism,” the report says.
According to Radio Ozodi (the Tajik service of Radio Liberty, recognized in the Russian Federation as a foreign agent), earlier the Tajik authorities criticized the reports of the US State Department for their politicized nature. Dushanbe believes that the document “does not trace an objective analysis of the current situation with human rights in the country”, and the speakers rely mainly on “information from interested sources, which casts doubt on the reliability of the published data.”
The US State Department has been publishing annual country reports on human rights for nearly 50 years. Analysts are preparing the document in cooperation with local and international human rights organizations, as well as with statistical agencies.
ℹ️ Let’s add that in the post-Soviet republics of Central Asia, presidents are reluctant to give up power, sometimes resorting to amendments to the Constitution, “nullifying” the previous terms and giving the right to run for office again.
In Uzbekistan, from the first days of gaining independence, the country was ruled by Islam Karimov for 26 years, until his death in September 2016. A few months later, Shavkat Mirziyoyev was elected the head of the country. At the end of April, a referendum will be held in Uzbekistan to change the text of the Constitution, which will allow Mirziyoyev to reset his presidential term and hold the post of head of state for another 14 years.
In Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov, who came to power during the years of independence, remained in the presidency until his death in 2006. His successor was Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, who in March 2022 gave way to his son Serdar Berdimuhamedov and became the speaker of the country’s parliament.
The first President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, held this position from 1990 to 2019. He then resigned of his own accord. For some time, the duties of the president were performed by the speaker of the upper house of parliament, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who in June 2019 held early presidential elections and won them. Elections were again held in the country last fall (due to changes to the constitution), which will keep Tokayev in power for at least the next seven years.
Only in Kyrgyzstan, presidents changed quite often, but, as a rule, this was accompanied by revolutions and popular unrest. Apart from acting duties, there are six presidents in the republic: Askar Akaev (from 1990 to 2005), Kurmanbek Bakiyev (from 2005 to 2010), Roza Otunbaeva (2010-2011), Almazbek Atambaev (from 2011 to 2017), Sooronbai Jeenbekov (from 2017 to 2020) and the current head of state Sadyr Japarov.
Source: fergana
