Tajikistan is slowly rebuilding itself with an integrated government and continues to permit a Russian military presence to guard their border with Afghanistan and the basing of the Russian 201st Motorized Rifle Division that never left Tajikistan when it became independent. Most of these Russian-led forces, however, are local Tajik noncommissioned officers and soldiers.
Both Tajikistan's presidential and parliamentary elections, in 1999 and 2000, respectively, were widely considered to be flawed and unfair but peaceful. The inclusion of an overtly declared Islamic party committed to secular government (Islamic Rebirth Party) and several other parties in the Parliamentary elections represented an improvement in the Tajik people's right to choose their government. Tajikistan is the only Central Asian country in which a religiously affiliated political party is represented in Parliament. President Rahmonov, while no longer specifically obliged--as he was under the peace accords--to allocate one-third of government positions to the UTO, has kept some former UTO officials in senior cabinet-level positions. While the government and the now incorporated former opposition continue to distrust each other, they have often found a way to work with each other and are committed to peacefully resolving their differences.
Tajikistan's fragmented neighbor to the south, Afghanistan, continues to be a base of international terrorism, a scene of civil conflict between the Taliban and their opponents, and the world's largest producer of opium. This combination of negative factors produces crossborder effects that regularly threatens to destabilize Tajikistan's fragile and hard-won peace. In the summers of 1999 and 2000, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, an officially declared terrorist organization by the U.S. Government, used Tajikistan as a staging ground for an insurgency campaign against the Government of Uzbekistan. At the same time, Taliban advances in northern Afghanistan threatened to inundate Tajikistan with thousands of refugees. All the while, a constant flow of illegal narcotics continue to transit Tajikistan from Afghanistan on its way to Russian and European markets, leaving widespread violent crime, corruption, increased HIV incidence, and economic distortions in its wake. During 2002, stability in the country continued to increase, and the year was largely free of the assassinations and outbreaks of violence perpetrated by unreformed opposition members that plagued the country in previous years.
Country name:
conventional long form:
Republic of Tajikistan
conventional short form:
Tajikistan
local long form:
Jumhurii Tojikiston
local short form:
none
former:
Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic
Data code: TI
Government type: republic
Capital: Dushanbe
Administrative divisions:
2 oblasts (viloyatho, singular - viloyat) and one autonomous oblast* (viloyati mukhtori); Viloyati Mukhtori Kuhistoni Badakhshoni* (Khorugh - formerly Khorog), Viloyati Khatlon (Qurghonteppa - formerly Kurgan-Tyube), Viloyati Leninobod (Khujand - formerly Leninabad)
note:
the administrative center name follows in parentheses
Independence: 9 September 1991 (from Soviet Union)
National holiday: National Day, 9 September (1991)
Constitution: 6 November 1994
Legal system: based on civil law system; no judicial review of legislative acts
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Executive branch:
chief of state:
President Emomali RAHMONOV (since 6 November 1994; head of state and Supreme Assembly chairman since 19 November 1992)
head of government:
Prime Minister Ogil OQILOV (since 20 January 1999), see List of Presidents of Tajikistan
cabinet:
Council of Ministers appointed by the president, approved by the Supreme Assembly
elections:
president elected by popular vote for a seven-year term; election last held 6 November 1999 (next to be held NA 2006); prime minister appointed by the president
election results:
Emomali RAHMONOV elected president; percent of vote - Emomali RAHMONOV 96%, Davlat USMONOV 4%
Legislative branch:
bicameral Supreme Assembly or Majlisi Oli (181 seats; next election 96 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections:
last held 26 February and 12 March 1995 (next to be held 27 February and 23 March 2000)
election results:
percent of vote by party - NA; estimated seats by party - Communist Party and affiliates 100, People's Party 10, Party of People's Unity 6, Party of Economic and Political Renewal 1, other 64
Judicial branch: Supreme Court, judges are appointed by the president
Political parties and leaders: Democratic Party or TDP [Mahmadruzi ISKANDDAROV, chairman]; Islamic Rebirth Party [Muhammadsharif HIMMAT-ZODA, chairman]; Lali Badakhshan Movement [Atobek AMIRBEKOV]; National Unity Party - evolved from the People's Party and Party of People's Unity; Party of Justice and Development [Rahmatullo ZOIROV]; People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan or PDPT [Abdulmajid DOSTIEV]; Rastokhez (Rebirth) Movement [Tohiri ABDUJABBOR]; Tajik Communist Party or CPT [Shodi SHABDOLOV]; Tajikistan Party of Economic and Political Renewal or TPEPR [leader NA]; United Tajik Opposition or UTO [Said Abdullo NURI] - an umbrella group including; Adolatho "Justice" Party [Abdurahmon KARIMOV, chairman]
International organization participation: AsDB, CCC, CIS, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, ECO, ESCAP, FAO, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Intelsat, IOC, IOM, ITU, OIC, OPCW, OSCE, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO (observer)
Diplomatic representation in the US: Tajikistan does not have an embassy in the US, but does have a permanent mission to the UN: address - 136 East 67th Street, New York, NY 10021, telephone - [1] (212) 472-7645, FAX - [1] (212) 628-0252; permanent representative to the UN is Rashid ALIMOV
Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission:
Ambassador Robert FINN
embassy:
temporarily collocated with the US Embassy in Almaty (Kazakhstan)
mailing address:
use embassy street address
telephone:
NA
FAX:
NA
Flag description: three horizontal stripes of red (top), a wider stripe of white, and green; a gold crown surmounted by seven gold, five-pointed stars is located in the center of the white stripe