DUSHANBE, October 5, 2011, Asia-Plus — President Emomali Rahmon is fifty-nine years of age today.
The president, however, is working on his birthday.
Emomalii Rahmon (born October 5, 1952) has served as the head of state of the Republic of Tajikistan since 1992, under the position of President since 1994.
Rahmon was born to a peasant family in Danghara district, Kulob province, now part of Khatlon province.
In 1971-1974 he served in the Soviet Armed Forces. His original power base was as chairman of the collective state farm of his native Danghara. In 1982, he graduated from the Tajik State University with a Bachelor”s Degree in Economics. Between 1976 and 1988, Rahmon was the Chairman of the Union Committee of the collective farm in the Danghara region of Kulob province. He also held various positions in leading government divisions at that time.
In 1990, Rahmon was elected a people”s deputy to the Supreme Council of the Tajik SSR. President Rahmon Nabiyev resigned in the first months of the civil war in Tajikistan in August 1992. Akbarsho Iskandarov, Speaker of the Supreme Soviet, became acting president. Iskandarov resigned in November in an attempt to end the civil unrest. The Supreme Soviet met in Khujand, the capital of Sughd province and abolished the position of president that same month. Rahmon, then the Speaker of Parliament, became the head-of-government.
On November 6, 1994, Rahmon was elected to the newly created post of president of Tajikistan, and he was sworn in on November 16. Following constitutional changes, he was re-elected on November 6, 1999 to a seven-year term, taking 97% of the vote. On June 22, 2003, he won a referendum that would allow him to run for two more consecutive seven-year terms after his present term expired in 2006. Rahmon was re-elected in election on November 6, 2006, with about 79% of the vote.
He is leader of the People”s Democratic Party of Tajikistan, which dominates the Tajik legislature.
Emomali Rahmon is married with nine children.
