TAJIKISTAN….

The presidential election scheduled for November 6 has collapsed. The opposition candidates have withdrawn after authorities frustrated their attempts to comply with registration requirements (145,000 nominating signatures collected in a three-week period). President Imomali Rahmonov, who relies on Moscow’s military support to contain the United Tajik Opposition (UTO), will presumably run unopposed. The UTO has been a largely secular movement, but the inability to compete peacefully for power could drive many of its members toward the Islamic militants that Russia blames for all the trouble on its borders.