Tajikistan set to elect parliament loyal to strongman leader

FILE PHOTO: Tajik President Imomali Rakhmon arrives for a meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) heads of state in Minsk, Belarus November 30, 2017. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

ALMATY (Reuters) - Tajikistan votes in a parliamentary election on Sunday that will produce a legislature loyal to President Imomali Rakhmon who has run the ex-Soviet Central Asian nation for a quarter of a century.

Of the seven parties contesting the 63 lower house seats only one, the Social Democrats, has openly criticised the 67-year-old leader who wields sweeping powers in the Persian-speaking Muslim country of 9 million.