Tensions began in the spring of 1992 after opposition members took to the streets in demonstrations against the results of the 1991 presidential election. Ethnic groups from the Garm and Gorno-Badakhshan regions, which were underrepresented in the ruling elite, rose up against the national government of President Rahmon Nabiyev, in which people from the Leninabad and Kulyab regions dominated. The opposition fought under the banner of the United Tajik Opposition, which turned to rebels in Afghanistan for military aid.[2]