Tajikistan, a poor ex-Soviet nation north of Afghanistan, voted in a parliamentary election yesterday certain to be won by Tajik President Imomali Rakhmon’s party despite growing popular discontent.
Potential instability in the Muslim nation is a worry to the West, which relies on Tajikistan to transit supplies for NATO troops in Afghanistan and harbor thousands of refugees from the war-torn state.
Tajikistan has never held a vote judged free and fair by Western observers and analysts expect Rakhmon’s People’s Democratic Party to keep the majority of seats in the 63-seat Majlisi Namoyandagon lower house of the parliament.
The leading contenders among seven other parties running in the poll are pro-government Communists and the opposition Islamic Revival Party, both represented in the current legislature but with only a handful of deputies.
Although there have been no signs of outright unrest or public protests, ordinary Tajiks have become frustrated with Rakhmon’s government due to deepening economic crisis and poverty. Up to half the workforce have left the country to work abroad, mostly in Russia.
Mukhiddin Kabiri, the leader of the Islamic Revival Party, said his supporters had already registered “numerous irregularities.”
“Those include multiple voting, voting for family members and hindering the work of our observers by elections officials,” Kabiri said.
A Western observer said he saw an opposition candidate from Rakhmon’s home constituency of Dangara being prevented from voting by local election officials.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of