Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital and most populous city. Tajikistan is bordered by Afghanistan to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east. It is separated from Pakistan by Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor. It has a population of approximately 10.6 million people.
The politics of Tajikistan nominally takes place in a framework of a presidential republic, whereby the President is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. Legislative power is vested in both the executive branch and the two chambers of parliament.
Tajiks is the name of various Persian-speaking Eastern Iranian groups of people native to Central Asia, living primarily in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Even though the term Tajik does not refer to a cohesive cross-national ethnic group, Tajiks are the largest ethnicity in Tajikistan, and the second-largest in Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. More Tajiks live in Afghanistan than Tajikistan. They speak varieties of Persian, a Western Iranian language. In Tajikistan, since the 1939 Soviet census, its small Pamiri and Yaghnobi ethnic groups are included as Tajiks. In China, the term is used to refer to its Pamiri ethnic groups, the Tajiks of Xinjiang, who speak the Eastern Iranian Pamiri languages. In Afghanistan, the Pamiris are counted as a separate ethnic group.
Emomali Rahmon is a Tajik politician who has served as the President of Tajikistan since 1994, having previously led the country as Chairman of the Supreme Assembly from 1992 to 1994.
The People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan has been the dominant and ruling party of Tajikistan since 1994. Founded in 1994 by Abdulmajid Dostiev as the People's Party of Tajikistan, the seat of the party is located in the Palace of Unity in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. Since April 1998, the leader of the party has been the President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon.
The Tajikistani Civil War, also known as the Tajik Civil War, began in May 1992 and ended in June 1997. Regional groups from the Garm and Gorno-Badakhshan regions of Tajikistan rose up against the newly formed government of President Rahmon Nabiyev, which was dominated by people from the Khujand and Kulob regions. The rebel groups were led by a combination of liberal democratic reformers and Islamists, who would later organize under the banner of the United Tajik Opposition. The government was supported by Russian military and border guards.
The Communist Party of Tajikistan is the oldest political party in Tajikistan. The party was founded on 6 December 1924 and was the ruling party of the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic from 1924 to 1929 and the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic from 1929 to 1990 as part of the Soviet Union as a republican branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. It was banned in 1991 following the 1991 coup.
The Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan also known as the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan, is a banned Islamist political party in Tajikistan. Until 2015, when it was designated a terrorist organisation, it was the only legal Islamist party in Central Asia.
The Socialist Party of Tajikistan is a political party in Tajikistan. The party was founded on 15 June 1996, and registered on 6 August the same year. The party publishes Ittixod (Иттиход). The chairman of the party, Safarali Kenjayev, was assassinated in Dushanbe in 1999. Prior to his murder, there had been speculations that he might have intended to run for president.
The Social Democratic Party is a centre-left political party in Tajikistan registered on 20 December 2002 and was led by Rahmatullo Zoirov until his death on May 18th, 2024. The party is opposed to the authoritarian government led by the People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan, and has been recognized as the only Tajik party to explicitly oppose President Emomali Rahmon.
Human rights in Tajikistan, a country in Central Asia, have become an issue of international concern. The access to basic human rights remains limited, with corruption in the government and the systematic abuse of the human rights of its citizens slowing down the progress of democratic and social reform in the country.
Akbarsho Iskandarov is a Tajik politician who was twice acting president of Tajikistan. He first served as acting president from October 6, 1991, to December 2, 1991, when Rahmon Nabiyev stepped down to fight Tajikistan's first presidential election. Nabiyev won the election and took over as the first popularly elected president in the country's history, but resigned in September 1992, following a coup d'état. Iskandrov again took the interim presidency and later resigned on 20 November 1992, after which the office of president was abolished and Emomali Rahmon was installed as head of state. Iskandrov also served as ambassador to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.
Mahmadruzi Iskandarov is a Tajik opposition politician and the chairman of the Democratic Party of Tajikistan. Arrested in 2005, he is currently serving a 23-year prison term. As Iskandarov is serving his jail sentence, Masud Sobirov has taken leadership of the Democratic Party.
The Constitution of Tajikistan was adopted on 6 November 1994 and amended three times, on 26 September 1999, on 22 June 2003 and on 22 May 2016.
The Popular Movement «Revival», simply known as the Rastokhez, was a political party in Tajikistan in the years of independence and civil war (1989–1997). It was founded on 14 September 1989, by members of the Tajik intelligentsia, among them Tohir Abdujabbor, with a moderate nationalist, secularist and liberal democratic program.
The Agrarian Party of Tajikistan is an officially registered political party in Tajikistan, founded on November 15, 2005. The party's headquarters are located in the centre of Dushanbe, and the party's youth wing is based at the Tajik Agrarian University in northern Dushanbe. The chief of the APT is Rustam Latifzoda.
Group 24 is a political opposition movement in Tajikistan. It opposes the rule of president Emomali Rahmon, who it accuses of corruption and nepotism.
The Party of People's Unity was a liberal-conservative and secularist political party in Tajikistan. The party was founded by Abdumalik Abdullajanov in 1994 and banned in 1998. It was a part of the United Tajik Opposition faction during the Tajikistani Civil War.
The State Committee for National Security is the principal national security and intelligence agency of Tajikistan. Its main responsibilities include internal and border security, counter-intelligence, counter-terrorism, counter-narcotics, fighting organized crime, and surveillance. The chairman of the committee and all of his deputies are appointed by and answerable to the president of Tajikistan. Colonel General Saimumin Yatimov has served as the SCNS chairman since September 2, 2010.
The Party of Economic Reforms of Tajikistan is an officially registered centrist political party in Tajikistan.
