Dictator
Emomali Rahmon
Tajikistan's president since 1994, holding the official title "Founder of Peace and National Unity, Leader of the Nation."
Emomali Rahmon has led Tajikistan since 1992, formalized as president in 1994, initially navigating the country through a brutal five-year civil war before consolidating single-party dominance. A 2016 referendum removed presidential term limits specifically for him and lowered the eligibility age, widely seen as clearing the way for his son, Rustam Emomali, mayor of the capital Dushanbe, to eventually succeed him. Rahmon holds the official state title "Founder of Peace and National Unity, Leader of the Nation," and Tajik law criminalizes insulting him.
Independent political opposition has been almost entirely eliminated: the once-legal Islamic Renaissance Party was banned and labeled a terrorist organization in 2015, and its leaders received lengthy prison sentences following what Amnesty International described as unfair trials.