President of Tajikistan of his support for the August Coup of 1991 in Moscow and the resulting street demonstrations in Dushanbe. From 1991 to 1992 the post of the president changed hands several times due to the political changes and uncertainty following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and ensuing social unrest and violence in the Tajikistan Civil War. Since 1994, Emomali Rahmonov has held the position of the presidency. The presidential elections were last held in 2013. Presidential elections in Tajikistan have consistently been criticized by international observers as unfair and favoring the ruling party. The President of the Republic of Tajikistan
Flag of Tajikistan similar to the Soviet Union design but with the addition of a white and a green stripe. This flag also contains the red-white-green color order where the white stripe is larger than the green, which is currently used in the national flag. As a Soviet republic, the red symbolized the workers' revolution, the white symbolized cotton, and the green symbolized agriculture. The Soviet era flag was two-sided. Its backside was a mirror of the obverse face without the hammer, sickle, and star. Following independence on September 9, 1991, Tajikistan adopted its first post-independence flag by removing the Soviet symbolism from