2016 Tajikistani Constitutional Referendum Sunday May 22,2016

The 2016 Tajikistani Constitutional Referendum is scheduled to take place on Sunday May 22,2016

The changes to be approved in the referendum are:

• allowing incumbent President Emomali Rahmon to run for re-election indefinitely; the current constitution requires him to step down at the next elections.
• reducing the minimum age to run for president from 35 to 30; Rahmon's son would be 33 at the end of his current term.
• banning political parties based on religious platforms, ensuring the continued illegality of the main opposition Islamic Renaissance Party, which was outlawed in 2015.

Polls closed in ex-Soviet Tajikistan on Sunday May 22,2016 in a referendum on constitutional changes almost certain to strengthen the hold of long-time President Emomali Rahmon and his family over the Central Asian state.

The country's electoral commission, which declared the vote valid, said some 88.3 percent of the roughly 4.3 million eligible voters had cast ballots

Emomali Rahmon(63)has ruled Tajikistan for nearly a quarter of a century, demonstrating what critics say is an increased disregard for religious freedoms, civil society and political pluralism in recent years.

Many residents of the Tajik capital appeared enthusiastic in their support for Rahmon, who led the country out of a five-year civil war that began in 1992, less than a year after independence.

"Rahmon brought us peace, he ended the war, and he should rule the country for as long as he has the strength to," 53-year-old voter Nazir Saidzoda told