Tajikistan President Emomali Rakhmon begins fourth term DUSHANBE, Tajikistan, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Emomali Rakhmon, who has ruled Tajikistan since 1992, was sworn in to a fourth term as president Saturday. Rakhmon promised to keep on the same course in foreign policy and to foster economic growth, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported. The former Soviet republic is the smallest and poorest country in central Asia. The vector of our foreign policy will remain the same and Tajikistan will keep pursuing the open-door policy in the next seven years. We will be developing ties with friendly countries while implementing foreign policy that is not aimed against other countries," Rakhmon said. Rakhmon, 61, was elected to a seven-year term with 84 percent of the vote Nov. 6. International observers described the election as flawed with none of the five other candidates cracking 5 percent of the vote. The son of a peasant, Rakhmon was a collective farm manager during the Soviet period. He was elected head of state in 1992 with 58 percent of the vote after a short bitter civil war that followed independence in 1991.