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Tajikistan's Parliamentary Elections
(New York, February 25, 2000)--Six parties will contest elections to the lower chamber of a new bicameral parliament in Tajikistan on February 27, 2000. The vote will mark the first multiparty elections since the June 1997 peace agreement that ended Tajikistan's civil war, and are seen as the culmination of the peace process.


Related Material

Tajikistan's Parliamentary Elections Press Backgrounder, February 25, 2000

Background on Tajikistan's Presidential Elections
HRW Press Backgrounder, October 1999

Tajikistan --Central Asia Focus on Human Rights

Leninabad: Crackdown in the North
HRW Report, April 1998


Although the government has loosened some of the restrictions on freedom of association and expression that had deeply marred the November 1999 presidential campaign, in which Emomali Rakhmonov was reelected, conditions for the parliamentary elections remain flawed. Candidates from the ruling party and those who favor the president have dominated the state media, and electoral commissions have manipulated the registration process to exclude candidates perceived either as not supportive of the president or as solid alternatives to the ruling party. The same political parties barred from contesting the presidential elections in November 1999 have again been prevented from contesting the parliamentary elections.

A joint United Nations-Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) election observation team will assess and monitor the elections' conformity to standards set out in Tajik law and in OSCE documents.

A Human Rights Watch backgrounder on the elections is attached.

February 25, 2000

Tajikistan's Parliamentary Elections

Press Backgrounder

Elections to the lower chamber of a new bicameral parliament will take place in Tajikistan on February 27, 2000. Six political parties will compete for 22 seats, and 219 candidates in single-mandate constituencies, for 41 seats.

Although the government has loosened some of the restrictions on freedom of association and expression that had deeply marred the November 1999 presidential campaign, conditions for the parliamentary elections remain flawed. Candidates from the ruling party and those who favor the president have dominated the state media, and electoral commissions have manipulated the registration process to exclude candidates perceived either as not supportive of the president or as solid alternatives to the ruling party.

Tajikistan's first multiparty elections since the signature of the June 1997 government-United Tajik Opposition (UTO) peace agreement are seen as the culmination of the peace process that ended that country's civil war. They follow the presidential elections held just under four months ago, in which an alleged 96% majority easily reinstated the incumbent, President Emomali Rakhmonov. Those elections were criticized by, among others, the OSCE, the European Union and the U. S. Department of State, for obstructionist candidate registration procedures, widespread multiple voting, and severe restrictions on political parties and the media. A joint United Nations-Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) observer mission will monitor and assess the elections' conformity to standards set out in Tajik legislation and in the OSCE 1990 Copenhagen Document.

Political parties

Six parties will contest the February 27 poll: the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP), the Communist Party, the Socialist Party, the Democratic Party (Almaty platform), the Adolatkhoh (Justice) Party and the Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP). None are seen as serious contenders to the PDP, which as the ruling party has maintained firm control over the media.

But obstruction of the activities of other opposition parties contrasts starkly against the appearance of pluralism. Those parties suspended, deregistered, or prevented from registering in the run-up to the November presidential elections, remain excluded from the parliamentary elections. Notably, these parties are among those that had formed the Consultative Council of Political Parties, and had criticized amendments to the constitution, through which President Rakhmonov gained a seven-year term (previously the president's term was five years) and maintained the power to directly appoint the majority of the upper chamber of parliament.

These parties were denied registration prior to the parliamentary elections. The Agrarian Party is to date still banned, the registration of the Party of Justice and Progress remains annulled, and the National Movement Party of Tajikistan continues to be denied registration. The Democratic Party (Teheran Platform), was suddenly suspended by the Supreme Court in early December 1999 on charges of illegal membership lists, despite the fact that its registration had previously been approved in March 1999, and that it had been allowed to participate in the presidential elections. The newspaper that published the views of the opposition Consultative Council and other opposition parties, Junbish, was closed down following threats and harassment from authorities just prior to the presidential elections, and has not reopened.

Independent candidates

According to the electoral law, independent candidates must submit at least 500 signatures in support of their nomination; if three percent of the total number submitted is deemed incorrect, registration is refused. Yet the law neglects to clearly specify whether the three percent applies to the minimum 500 signatures or to the entire signature list, which in many cases exceeds by two or three times the 500-signature minimum. Some candidates recounted to Human Rights Watch that electoral commissions required them to submit only 500 signatures, while others related that they were allowed up to several thousand.

Approximately 50 independent candidates have been denied registration in what international electoral law experts have termed a wholly arbitrary application of registration rules. The flaws in the registration process have been particularly flagrant in Dushanbe, where two thirds of all independent candidates failed to gain registration. Several of these are leaders of political parties prevented from contesting the presidential elections, or have links to these parties. Others are those perceived to be unsupportive of the presidential party or who are considered weighty alternatives to pro-presidential candidates.

Hikmatullo Nasriddinov, chairman of the banned Agrarian Party, and also a member of the Consultative Council, was also denied registration. He told Human Rights Watch that he submitted his signature list to the district electoral commission of the Railway District in Dushanbe on January 13, 2000. The chairman of the commission, however, told Nasriddinov that he had been ordered by his superiors not to accept his documents. Although Nasriddinov gained oral assurances from the Central Electoral Commission that the Railway District electoral commission would be instructed to accept Nasriddinov's application, further attempts were unsuccessful. Nasridinnov claims that to date he has not received formal written notification of his registration denial either from the district or central electoral commissions.

Sattor Asrorov, deputy chairman of the Party of Justice, was denied registration as an independent candidate, although he has been included as a candidate on the party list. While electoral commissions are required by law to deliver written notification of registration denial, Asrorov asserted to Human Rights Watch that he was given only verbal notification by the Nav district electoral commission. Repeated attempts to obtain the written refusal were unsuccessful, as were appeals to the Central Electoral Commission and the Supreme Court, officials of both of whom told Asrorov that he must provide the written notification in order to make an official complaint or appeal. "I'm on the black list," Asrorov told Human Rights Watch. Saifiddin Turaev, the Justice Party's presidential candidate, was also denied single-mandate registration because of alleged irregularities in his signature list, although he has been included on the Justice Party list.

Afzali Azam, chairman of the suspended Democratic Party (Teheran Platform), recounted to Human Rights Watch that Rustam Faiziev, the chairman of the Leninabad branch of the party, conducted a two-week hunger strike when he was denied registration by the responsible district electoral commission, which claimed there were irregularities in his signature lists. According to Azam, commission officials told Faiziev directly that he would not be registered because of he was a member of a party led by Afzali Azam.

In addition, five women independent candidates were denied registration in Dushanbe, once again on the basis of irregular signature lists. International and local NGO representatives who participated in a training session for the five candidates told Human Rights that all five related that they had suffered undue harassment from both district and central electoral commission officials. Commission officials reportedly encouraged them to withdraw their candidacies, questioned the reasons for their nomination and made discouraging comments about their chances of success. One of the candidates recounted that policemen and persons in military uniform had visited the homes of those who had provided signatures, and that many, out of fear, subsequently withdrew their signatures.

Media

Some access to state media has been granted to political parties and independent candidates, a small step forward for Tajikistan's all-controlling state media. A few newspapers that had been prevented from printing in the last few years have in recent weeks re-appeared, including those of the Islamic Renaissance Party, the Democratic Party (Almaty Platform), and the Communist Party.

But despite provisions in the electoral law guaranteeing equal and ample coverage to all, independent candidates and opposition parties have repeatedly voiced concerns that state media, particularly state television, has devoted an overwhelming portion of coverage to the presidential party and pro-presidential candidates. These claims would appear to be supported by preliminary research conducted by Human Rights Watch and other members of international organizations involved in

media monitoring of the election campaign, which have documented that the state media coverage of presidential party and pro-presidential candidates has been grossly disproportionate. Candidate debates which were to have been broadcast on state television had not occurred by February 25.

For Further Information:
Marie Struthers, in Dushanbe: +992372-21-89-30, 23-43-54

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