Text of report by Iranian radio from Mashhad on 17th February

[Presenter] Now we will present to you a report about a meeting in Khujand
[the administrative centre of northern Leninobod Region] on the role of the
media during the election campaign.

[Correspondent] International organizations and establishments are making
efforts to ensure that the upcoming Tajik parliamentary elections are free
and democratic. On the initiative of the OSCE representative office in
Khujand, a branch of [the Soros Foundation's] Open Society Institute in
Tajikistan and Internews in Tajikistan, a conference is being held in
Khujand, which started its work yesterday. The theme of the conference is
the election campaign and the media in Tajikistan, and it is being attended
by representatives of official and unofficial media, political parties and
officials of the republic's Central Electoral [and Referendum] Commission
[CERC] and the Regional Electoral [and Referendum] Commission.

The deputy chairman of Leninobod Regional administration, Khayriniso
Mavlonova, opened the conference and expressed her gratitude to the
organizers of the conference. The head of the representative office of the
OSCE in Khujand, Mr (?Sebastian Triff), thanked the Regional administration
for hosting the conference and said that the OSCE's main aim was to help
Tajikistan implement of democracy in the country and to bring about close
cooperation with representatives of the media. The Internews representative
in Tajikistan, Bahodir Qosimov, said that his organization focused mainly
on the security of correspondents in the current situation and on ensuring
they exercised their rights and interests.

The head of the CERC press centre in Tajikistan, Abdumannon Abdurahmonov,
expressed his opinion about the newly-adopted law on elections, mentioning
that some shortcomings existed. He also mentioned the important role of the
media during elections. An experienced lawyer, (?Junayd Ibodov), mainly
dwelled on the laws restricting journalists' activity. He said that
meetings of the CERC should be held freely and frankly and journalists
should have the opportunity to attend them. He added that according to the
existing laws, a correspondent has the right to draw people's attention to
mistakes and shortcomings in the work of an electoral district or of
electoral commissions. However, in this respect the correspondent does not
enjoy any guarantee of security, because according to the law the CERC
chairman can deem any activity by a correspondent as interference in the
work of the CERC, if it does not suit the CERC chairman, and can pronounce
the correspondent guilty. In addition, Ibodov considered that the CERC's
latest decision allowing private funds to be used for canvassing to be
wrong; he added that no funds other than the designated state fund should
be used because that would be in contravention of the provisions of the law
of Tajikistan.

A representative of the Regional electoral commission, (?Umar Boboyev),
briefed the seminar about the nomination and registration of candidates
from political parties in Leninobod Region. He said that according to
Article 31 of the law, candidates have an equal right of access to the
media. It should be noted that during the conference representatives of
the media and the chairmen and officials of political parties are
exchanging questions and answers, analysing important proposals and
exchanging their views on certain articles of the law with the aim
implementing democratic principles in Tajikistan. The conference will
continue its work tomorrow. A correspondent of the Voice and Vision of the
Islamic Republic of Iran, Khujand.

Source: Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mashhad, in Persian 1600 gmt
17 Feb 00
BBC Mon CAU 190200/** VA/SK