Tajikistan's fragmented opposition have joined forces to hold a rare rally against next week's presidential election, the first public protest since the end of the civil war in 1997.
Despite the rally, the mood was lethargic before Monday's vote, which is expected to extend President Imomali Rakhmonov's 14-year rule by a third term. Many voters in the capital Dushanbe and surrounding villages said they saw no alternative to Mr Rakhmonov.
A few dozen activists defied strict laws against public gatherings and attended a rally in the centre of Dushanbe, some waving banners calling for the observance of electoral law in their tightly run former Soviet country.
Opposition parties including the Social Democrats are boycotting the poll. Mr Rakhmonov, criticised for cracking down on human rights and jailing dissidents, faces four little-known candidates from state-friendly parties.
Tajikistan is still recovering from the brutal civil war of the 1990s that destroyed its economy and caused tens of thousands of deaths.
The war pitted Rakhmonov's Russia-backed government against an alliance of Islamists and liberals. The opposition, powerful in the 1990s, has lost much of its clout and remains divided.
Demonstrations such today's rally are uncommon and the predominant mood ahead of the election was one of apathy.