Government Cracking Down on Opposition Party in Tajikistan, Leader Says

A prominent opposition leader in Tajikistan says the government is resorting to intimidation and arrests as it strives to stifle criticism of the recent parliamentary elections.

Tajikistan's four main opposition parties lodged a formal protest alleging the February 27 election was marred by widespread irregularities. The opposition charges are largely supported by the preliminary findings of an OSCE-organized international monitoring mission. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. The country's Central Election Commission (CEC) is to provide a written response to the opposition complaints. Given earlier statements by election officials, the written response is widely expected to dismiss the most significant opposition allegations about government misconduct concerning the election.

Though united in filing the formal complaint, opposition parties appear to have differing strategies on what to do next. The opposition movements that have secured representation in the next parliament – the Communist Party has three seats and the Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP) has two – appear inclined to effectively accept the official results, which handed President Imomali Rahmonov's People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan a dominating majority. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Immediately after the election, Communist and IRP leaders considered carrying out a parliamentary boycott. But such an idea appears to have been quietly dropped. Communist Party leaders now say that they will take up their seats in parliament. At the same time, IRP leaders say an unsatisfactory CEC response would prompt them to appeal to the Supreme Court. Political analysts in Dushanbe believe that, given the Rahmonov administration's extensive influence over the judicial branch, any such appeal is unlikely to yield a decision that goes against the government's interests.

Meanwhile, the Social Democrats (SDPT), an opposition party that did not receive sufficient electoral support to win parliament seats, appears to be sticking with plans to stage public protests, provided that the party is not satisfied with the CEC's election-complaint conclusions. Many Tajiks, mindful of the trauma inflicted by the 1992-97 civil war, remain concerned that any form of public protest could stoke broader unrest, and are, accordingly, reluctant to participate in demonstrations. "We must demonstrate that there can exist a civilized opposition, capable of holding peaceful demonstrations. That is why the first meeting that we [the SPDT] would hold would be selective and thoroughly organized," party leader Rahmatullo Zoirov said at a March 14 news conference.

The SDPT's stance appears to be prompting Rahmonov's administration to crack down on the party, Zoirov claimed, citing the March 12 "politically motivated" arrests of two party activists – Nizomiddin Begmatov and Nasimjon Shukurov. Both men ran as candidates in the parliamentary election and, when they didn't win, they challenged the results. They were taken into custody for making statements that allegedly "insulted the dignity" of authorities. Zoirov went on to claim that the government was planning to take more SDPT members into custody, apparently in an effort to bully the party into abandoning protest plans.

Zoirov added that the arrests of Begmatov and Shukurov "were reminiscent of 1937" – a reference to former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's notorious political purges.

In addition, the SPDT leader accused the government of intimidating mass media outlets, effectively restricting opposition parties' ability to communicate policy positions to the Tajik electorate. He said he attempted to distribute a party statement on the conduct of the February 27 election, but none of the 10 newspapers that he approached agreed to publish it. "They refused to publish the statement even when we offered to pay for publication," Zoirov said.