The parliament election campaign in Tajikistan

By decree of the newly elected President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmonov on December 11, 1999 the date for elections to the lower chamber of Tajik parliament was set at March 23, 2000. By now, nomination of candidates to the parliament had been completed, and their registration will be completed by February 6.

The new law, adopted by Majlisi Oli in December, defines the mixed system of elections in Tajikistan. 22 deputies will be elected by proportional system of party lists, and 63 – by majority districts. The party lists on the national balot had already been published, of all six parties of Tajikistan that are eligible for elections. None of the parties could get all their candidates through the Central Commission for Elections and Referendum. CEC registered 21 candidates of People’s Democratic Party of Tajikistan, 20 of Communist Party, 19 of Democratic Party, 18 of Socialist Party, 15 each of Islamic Revival Party and the Adolatkhoh. Though, this factor will be most obviously only of moral importance, because the probability of any party taking all seats by national ballot is practically nil. By the way, none of the parties expressed disagreement with this decision of CEC.

Observers refer to favorites in the campaign the PDPT, CPT and IRP. PDPT has the most impressive party list, and as the party of power has the best chances for representation. PDPT has firm support in Khatlon region and in the capital and the state structures throughout the country. Deputy chairman of the party Saifullo Safarov stated that PDPT expects to get not less than 70% of seats in the parliament. Nevertheless, this estimation seems a bit too optimistic. Communists proposed 22 candidates from one-mandate districts and expect to get half of the seats. CPT is probably the only party in Tajikistan that has supporters in all regions. The weaknesses of the party are absence of armed forces and weak material base. Besides, the program of CPT has a lot in common with PDPT, which can disorient the electorate. The Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan prtends to the role of the main opponent to PDPT. Supporters of IRP live in Khatlon region, Karategin, west of Badakhshon, some districts of Leninabad region and in the capital. The Democratic Party and the Adolatkhoh have more or less stable electorate. DPT is mainly supported by population of mountain areas of the Republic. The party list of Adolatkhoh includes, by the way, the laternative candidates at the November presidential elections Saifiddin Turayev, Sulton Kuvvatov, chairman of the banned by Supreme Court Tehran platform of Democratic Party Azam Afzali, members of the banned part Adolat va Tarakkiyot, etc. thus, one may say that the Adolatkhoh tries to gather under its banner all of the protest electorate. And, at last, the Socialist Party – in fact a regional party has most vague perspectives at the forthcoming elections.

Among independent candidates are many occasional persons and even criminals.

Thus the elections campaign had in fact started. Nevertheless, the promotion campaign is quite weak. Most of claims and disagreement of electorate are related to the imperfect law on elections, in particular in part of financing for the election campaign. This important issue is defined in just several lines, saying that financing for all election activities in Tajikistanshall be made from the state budget, and that it is prohibited to form private election funds. At present, each party has a right to receive TR200,000 (about $115.00), and each registered candidate – TR40,000 (about $23.00). the amount would not cover most elementary expenditures in the campaign, and creates the ground for conflicts between the candidates and CEC. Besides, the work of the entire system of election commissions is subject to criricism. For example, the city election commission in Dushanbe had not yet registered a single candidate from one-mandate districts, which creates ground for rumors about falsification.

Political and public situation around elections looks comparatively quiet. Nevertheless, some facts of pressure on candidates had already been registered. For example, unknown persons attacked and beat candidate of Communist party from Oktiabrski district of Dushanbe Murodnazar Khudoiyev. Later, somebody shot at his apartment windoes in the city. Even though the details and persons in the incident were not identified, there is ground to suppose that there is political motive.