Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has congratulated Sadyr Japarov on his election to the post of President of Kyrgyzstan and expressed hope that Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan will continue expanding bilateral cooperation, according to the Tajik president’s official website.

“The results of popular will indicate a broad public support for a course chosen by you and aimed at strengthening stability and accord in the country, and facilitating further sustainable development and prosperity of it,” Rahmon noted in his message of congratulations to Japarov posted on the Tajik president’s official website on Tuesday (January 12).

Tajik leader’s message of congratulations, in particular, notes that the centuries-old history of friendship, good neighborliness and mutual respect connects the peoples of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.  

Recall, Kyrgyz nationalist politician Sadyr Japarov won presidency on January 10 with a landslide.  The Central Election Commission of Kyrgyzstan said Mr. Japarov had won 79% of votes cast.  More than 80% of voters have also supported a proposal to reform the Constitution to give the President greater powers at parliament's expense, the Commission said.

Meanwhile, the observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) said in a preliminary report on January 11 that candidates in the January 10 vote “could mostly campaign freely” but the campaign was “dominated by one candidate who benefited from disproportionate financial means and misuse of administrative resources, resulting in an uneven playing field.”