Guaido denounces attack on Venezuela opposition rally

ted Islamists, democrats and regional forces against troops

loyal to Rakhmon, costing tens of thousands of lives.

A peace deal for the country was brokered in 1997, with ally Russia acting as a guarantor, and the opposition guaranteed a role in politics.

But within months of falling short of the parliamentary threshold, the party was deemed extremist and out

lawed. Eleven members of its political council were jailed.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has determined that the members were arrested "for their exercise of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly," and demanded their release.

Since the party was outlawed, Rakhmon strengthened control over the country. In 2016, he oversaw a referendum that allowed him to rule indefinitely.

Some analysts tip his son, Rustam Emomali, currently serving as Mayor of Dushanbe, to succeed him in the near future.

Shokir Hakimov, the Social Democratic Party of Tajikistan's deputy chairman, told AFP that its lack of seats is "not because we lack a base" but because of a "lack of political will, poor electoral legislations and falsifications."

The other small parties on the ballot, he said, are "artificially created political structures, which play by the rules of the nomenklatura and keep criticism to within pre-agreed

limits." The buildup to Sunday's vote saw well-known journalist and government critic Daler Sharipov jailed as part of a wave of over a hundred arrests that began at the end of last year.

Authorities have said the sweep is targeting the Muslim Brotherhood movement, another banned group.

In the capital Dushanbe,

leaflets of candidates standing in single member districts are visible on bus stops, while giant banners advertising the election loom over throughfares.

In a market in central Dushanbe, a 39-year-old trader called Mansour said that he planned to vote, and hoped that his district candidate would tackle the "mindless increase in taxes." "Ever year hundreds of small traders are forced to close their businesses at the markets, because taxes are pushed up," Mansour said.

"In February they increased them again. Who is it helping?" Long regarded as the poorest country in the ex-soviet Union, Tajikistan has seen its poverty rate decline over the last two decades to around 29 percent in 2017.

BARQUISIMETO (Venezuela): Venezuelan opposition

leader Juan Guaido said he could have been killed during a shooting attack on a protest march in the country's west that wounded a teenage boy.

Guaido had been leading around 2,000 supporters through Barquisimeto city on Saturday when the incident occurred.

A photo released by Guaido's supporters showed a man standing next to a motorcycle, with his face covered, aiming a gun in the direction of the parliament speaker.

His team said a 16-year-old boy was later shot in the leg but is now in a "stable condition." They attributed the attack to pro-government vigilantes.

"The dictatorship could have killed me today, without a doubt," Guaido said in a video published to social media after the march.

"They shot... but that is not going to push us back," he added.

The state government and Barquisimeto mayor's office have not commented on the incident.

Venezuela lurched into crisis a year ago when Guaido declared himself acting president, following claims the country's 2018 election was rigged in favor of President Nicolas Maduro.

Guaido wants Maduro to stand down in favor of a transitional government that would hold free and fair elections.

Although Guaido quickly secured the backing of more than 50 countries and initially led street protests drawing tens of thousands of people, his popularity has waned.

He recently returned from a high-profile tour to drum up international support, meeting US President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron.