President Emomali Rakhmonov has won re-election with 79.3 percent of the vote in Tajikistan, according to preliminary results, elections officials said Tuesday. Central Elections Commission Chairman Boltoiu Merzoali said live on national television that President Rakhmonov had won based on a count of 91 percent of the ballots. The runner-up in Monday's polling won only 6.2 percent of the vote, he said. Rakhmonov had been widely expected to win the election. The three main opposition parties either boycotted the polling or refused to field candidates, accusing authorities of limiting access to the media and putting up artificial obstacles to campaigning, the Associated Press reported. Monday's election was the second presidential ballot in the ex-Soviet republic since a civil war pitting Islamic forces against the Moscow-backed government killed more than 30,000 people and displaced nearly 1 million.
