A rigged vote keeps the ruling party in power in a failing state

It is time for some sort of accountability from International Crisis Group. This body has been predicting Tajikistan to fail for the last 3 years!

Yet, Tajikistan is still the only country in Central Asia with several strong political parties created from grass-roots, unlike those in the neighboring countries created by dictators for PR purposes. Tajikistan is home to the only legal Islamic Party (IRP) in the CIS. IRP has deputies in the Parliament and a following of about 100 thousand people. Tajikistan's media enjoys the same level of freedom as Russia's media. These factors allow relatively open political discussions - the steam does not accumulate in the underground. Compare to Uzbekistan or Turkmenistan.

The economy has been growing in high digits since the end of the civil war in late 1990s, while the country has NO oil and gas reserves. Tajikistan’s GDP is not the smallest in the CIS now! The growth factors have been primarily investments from neighboring China (about $1bln annually), Russia and Iran, remittances, hydro-power, the only aluminum plant in Central Asia, cotton, agriculture. Tajikistan has almost achieved agricultural independence and diversified from cotton monoculture.

Rogun hydro-power plant when constructed, God willing, will almost double the country’s electricity output. Most of this electricity is planned for exports to power-hungry Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and India. Once the Chinese complete the $2 bln investment in infrastructure, Tajikistan will no longer be a landlocked country fully dependent on trade with Uzbekistan and Russia. Roads to China will allow imports and exports via the globally integrated China. Stabilized Afghanistan will result in enormous trade via Tajikistan and Chinese transit.

Inshallah!

Didomyk, I didn't mean that Russian media is the ideal. I meant that Russian media is probably the most free in the CIS. I didn't argue that Tajik media is free. Everything's relative..

Despite relative powerty Tajiks life expectancy (male: 62.3 years
female: 68.5 years) is better than that of Russians. Probably due to a healthier country life style (less vodka and salo)

The country's literacy stands at 99.7%

After a departure in the 1990s of tens of thousands of Russians the country's religion is mostly Sunni Islam (90% - 97%), followed by Christianity 2.5%

I suspect that vote rigging in Tajikistan is only the tip of the iceberg. Parties from all over the world, with enough political clout and sufficient financial support are developing novel ways to manipulate the popular vote, leading to a global scale crisis. This can only be amended by an international governing body to regulate the cast of elections.

behruzhimo wrote:

"Tajikistan's media enjoys the same level of freedom as Russia's media."

Not sure this is a meaningful comparison given that most Russian media are controlled by oligarhs and/or Kremlin friendly regional political appointees. Your post was interesting and useful.

It is worth recalling that after the overthrow of Imperial Russia in 1917, guerrillas known as basmachi waged a war against Bolshevik armies in a futile attempt to secure independence. After a four-year war the Reds prevailed, destroying mosques and burning villages to suppress the population heavily suppressed. Practicing Muslims, Jews, and Christians were persecuted and mosquesand churches were closed.

The Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created as a part of Uzbekistan, but in 1929 the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajik SSR) was established as a separate republic. Between mid-192os and 1959 the proportion of Russians among Tajikistan's population grew from less than 1% to 13%.
Many Russians in miltary and administrative capacity left Tajikistan after 1991.