On November 6, Tajikistan celebrates Constitution Day. The country’s main document was adopted in 1994, during a difficult period of civil war, and high hopes for a bright future were associated with it. The Constitution guarantees the people of Tajikistan fundamental rights and freedoms and defines the principles of statehood. The 1994 Constitution was developed by the best legal scholars of that time, without haste, thoroughly. And most importantly: specialists who worked on the draft of this Constitution did not advance their interests or the interests of any political forces. To date, experts rate the 1994 version of the Constitution very highly, but what happened with our fundamental document of the country further is evaluated very ambiguously.
In 26 years, the Constitution of the Republic of Tajikistan has been amended three times by popular referendum. For the first time, the current government rewrote the Constitution in 1999, then a bicameral parliament was adopted and the term of office of the president was increased from five to seven years. And then more: in 2003, more than a hundred amendments were already made. But the most important ones, for which all the shows with a referendum were started, are the following: they removed the upper age limit for a candidate for president of the Republic – 65 years, and were allowed to hold the presidency of the same person for more than two consecutive terms. This is how our respected Rakhmonov, allegedly legally, strengthens his totalitarian regime in the country.
But the latest amendments made to the Constitution of the Republic of Tajikistan in 2016 do not fit into any framework of a democratic state. According to the latest amendments, the “Leader of the Nation” appeared in our country, the respected Mr. Rakhmonov immortalized himself as head of state, and just in case, he took little and lowered the lower limit of the age limit for a presidential candidate from 35 to 30 years. This is so that in case of unforeseen circumstances, the eldest son of Rahmon can take part in the 2020 presidential election and power would remain in the hands of a respected family. After these amendments, not only the opposition, but also various international organizations, such as Reporters Without Borders, Amnesty International and others, as well as the US Department of State for Human Rights, talked about preparing an open transfer of Rakhmonov’s power to their son, about strengthening the totalitarian regime in a democratic country.
Today, congratulating compatriots on Constitution Day, Rakhmonov said: “The sacred task of each of us is to honor and honor the norms of the Constitution.” Does Mr. Rakhmonov himself honor and honor the norms laid down by leading independent legal scholars in the 1994 Constitution? The answer is obvious: No. He is much smarter than specialists and knows what the correct Constitution should be and will rewrite the Basic Law of the country as many times as he needs to sit comfortably and forever in the chair of the country’s leader. It is very sad when the head of the Republic, who should be the guarantor of compliance with constitutional norms in the country, puts the country’s fundamental document in his service. In a democratic State, the President complies with the Constitution and not the Constitution complies with the whims of the President.
Happy holiday, dear Tajiks! Happy Constitution Day, rewritten by Rakhmonov!
