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Early Fraud Allegations Emerge In Tajik Vote

Last updated (GMT/UTC): 28.02.2010 19:07

(RFE/RL) -- Polls have closed in Tajikistan's parliamentary and local elections with opposition politicians in the impoverished Central Asian nation claiming that the vote was deeply flawed.

Observers say they expect authoritarian President Emomali Rakhmon's People's Democratic Party to maintain tight control of the lower house of parliament -- the Majlis Namoyandagon -- once the results are finalized. 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.

Rakhmon's 23-year-old son, Rustam Emomali, widely seen as a successor to his father, is also using the election to launch his political career, seeking a seat on the city council of the Tajik capital, Dushanbe.

With two hours of voting remaining, Tajikistan's Central Election Commission said 80 percent of the country's 3.5 million voters cast ballots. The commission did not release revised figures immediately after polls closed.

Opposition figures, meanwhile, complained about fraud and 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 told RFE/RL's Tajik Service.

Young Leadership And Swelling Ranks

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.

News agencies quoted Kabiri as saying his supporters have registered numerous violations, including multiple voting and obstruction of the work of electoral observers and poll workers. Kabiri said he believed his party could have won 10 seats in parliament in a fair vote. The party has two seats in the outgoing legislature.

Hundreds Of Observers

Javharshoh Himmatshoev, a voter in Dushanbe, says that despite being registered to vote, his five-member family didn't receive voting cards. "Are they blind to lose five names? You can forget one name, two names but five is too much," he says.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has deployed hundreds of monitors to observe the elections. In a report ahead of the vote, the OSCE expressed concern over a lack of transparency and accountability among election officials. The organization also cited reports from several political parties alleging that their campaigning had been obstructed by the authorities.

Talking to journalists in Dushanbe on February 28, Janez Lenarcic, the head of OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) said the organization has more than 200 monitors on the ground.

International monitors are due to issue their assessment on March 1. Tajikistan has never held an election judged free and fair by Western observers and few analysts expect the February 28 vote to be an exception.

Despite the criticism of his opponents, President Rakhmon called the elections an important political event to promote the country's economic and social life. While voting close to his official residence in Dushanbe Rakhmon told journalists that he prefers to keep quiet on election day and will answer questions later.

"From the point view of improvement of the international image of Tajikistan, the more transparent, more free, and more democratic parliamentary elections are, the more important they for the people and the country of Tajikistan," Rakhmon said in response to a question from RFE/RL's Tajik Service.

Tajikistan's Central Election Commission is expected to announce preliminary results on March 1. Official final results will be announced two weeks later.

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/Early_Fraud_Allegations_Emerge_In_Tajik_Vote/1970460.html

Copyright (c) 2010. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.