European Forum

OSCE: "Tajikistan's parliamentary elections failed on many basic democratic standards"

In a statement that was issued today, the international election observation mission of the OSCE concluded that yesterday’s parliamentary elections took place peacefully, but despite certain small positive steps failed to meet many key OSCE commitments.

"I'm happy that election day took place in a generally good atmosphere, but I'm even more disappointed that these elections failed on many basic democratic standards. Such serious irregularities weaken genuine democratic progress. There is still a long way to go, and hopefully the new parliament will take up this challenge," said Pia Christmas-Moeller, Special Co-ordinator of the OSCE short-term observers and Vice-President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. The observers furthermore noted that higher-level election commissions were more inclusive than in previous elections. But they also highlighted serious irregularities on election day, including a high prevalence of family and proxy voting and cases of ballot box stuffing. Despite efforts to promote public awareness, the election campaign had a low profile. Some parties and candidates provided voters with political alternatives. Instances of violations or inconsistent application of campaign regulations hindered the establishment of a level playing field. While the pre-election media environment appeared to have been less controlled, state television news coverage of campaign activities was almost completely absent, limiting voters' ability to make an informed choice. "This election saw a certain level of pluralism, but unfortunately the stated will of the authorities to follow democratic procedures did not translate into concrete measures to address the significant shortcomings that marred the campaign environment and election day," said Artis Pabriks, Head of the long-term election observation mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

Fraud allegations
Next to the criticism of the OSCE, several opposition parties accused the authorities of fraud and complained about a lack of transparency in the vote. Rahmatillo Zoirov, the head of opposition Social Democratic Party of Tajikistan, complained that in Dushanbe, his party's observers were made to sit in corners of the polling stations and were unable to keep an eye on the process."In several polling stations we detected illegal activities such as multiple voting. They [the authorities] are not allowing filming or taking pictures in the polling stations. At the same time they have restricted the functions of voting monitors," Zoirov said. The Communist Party and the Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP) have emerged as the main contenders to the ruling President People's Democratic Party. Both parties held a small number of seats in the outgoing assembly. The IRP is Central Asia's only Islamist political party that is registered to work legally. With its young leadership and swelling ranks, the party aimed to use the election to strengthen its representation in the parliament. But despite campaigning hard, IRP leader Muhiddin Kabiri says he is discouraged by what he saw during the election day. "We hoped that these elections would be better in comparison to the elections of 2005. But unfortunately, according to reports we received in our election headquarters from polling stations, authorities in districts are still not ready for transparent and democratic elections," Kabiri said.

Preliminary results
President Emomali Rakhmon's two-decade grip on power is likely to remain as strong as ever.
According to the Central Election Commission, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon's ruling People's Democratic Party won 71.7 percent of the vote. The party held more than 50 of the 63 seats in the outgoing parliament and its leader has ruled the former Soviet republic for more than 17 years. The opposition Islamic Revival Party and pro-government Communists also secured some seats in the lower house, the Central Election Commission said. More than 85 percent of some 3.5 million eligible voters cast ballots. Official final results will be announced in two weeks.