Tajikistan - Politics 2013 Presidential
Tajikistan is an authoritarian state that President Emomali Rahmon and his supporters, drawn mainly from one region of the country, dominated politically. The constitution provides for a multi-party political system, but the government obstructed political pluralism. The November 6 presidential election lacked pluralism, genuine choice, and did not meet international standards. Security forces reported to civilian authorities. The most significant human rights problems included torture and abuse of detainees and other persons by security forces; repression of political activism and restrictions on freedoms of expression and the free flow of information, including the repeated blockage of several independent news and social networking websites; and poor religious freedom conditions as well as violence and discrimination against women.
Independent media were active, despite significant and repeated pressure by the government on media outlets. Although some print media published political commentary and investigatory material critical of the government, journalists observed that authorities considered certain topics off limits, including derogatory information about the president or his family or questions about financial improprieties by those close to the president. Several independent television and radio stations were available in a small portion of the country, but the government controlled most broadcasting transmission facilities. The government allowed some international media to operate freely and also permitted rebroadcasts of Russian television and radio programs.
A presidential election took place on 06 November 2013. “A worthy candidate will define our future for the next seven years,” Tajik Parliament Shukurjon Zukhurov said 30 August 2013 after announcing the results of a vote that determined the election’s date. Incumbent President Imomali Rakhmon won the previous election in 2006 with 79.3 percent of the vote that was criticized by international observers as unfair. In the 2013 election, he raced against five hopefuls, including a Communist and a candidate fielded by Rakhmon’s main opponents from the Union of Reformist Forces that includes the Party of Islamic Renaissance, the Social Democratic Party and the Democratic Party. The election extended the rule of longtime Russian-backed leader Emomali Rakhmon by another seven years.
Rakhmon, a 61-year old former collective farm director, secured his term with 84 percent of the vote, while international observers said the election was marred by fraud and a total lack of genuine competition. None of the other five candidates in the November 6 race, whose campaigns have been all but invisible, received more than five percent of the vote. Rakhmon, who has been in power since 1992, did not run an election campaign, relying instead on extensive visits across the landlocked, largely Muslim country, during which he opened new schools and hospitals. Coverage of the president in the tightly controlled state media is typically adulatory and led political analysts to describe an emergent cult of personality.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Election Observation Mission reported that while the election was peaceful, restrictive candidate-registration requirements resulted in a lack of pluralism, meaningful and genuine choice, and debate. The political opposition accused authorities of creating obstacles that prevented the opposition’s single candidate, Oynihol Bobonazarova, from successfully registering. OSCE observers noted the campaign lacked the political debate necessary for a competitive campaign environment. The authorities did not provide safeguards against the misuse of state resources. Family, proxy, and multiple voting as well as ballot stuffing were also prevalent. The Election Observation Mission criticized the legal framework for vague provisions regarding voter registration, campaigning, and election day procedures.
Political Parties: Eight political parties, including the PDPT, were legally registered. Observers considered only three of these parties to be independent of the government. Opposition political parties had moderate popular support and faced scrutiny by the government. All senior members of President Rahmon’s government were PDPT members, and most members of the country’s 97-seat parliament were members of the PDPT, belonged to progovernment parties, or were PDPT-affiliated independents.
The government interfered in the attempts of political parties to organize and conduct their activities. In April the Foreign Ministry stopped issuing visas at Dushanbe airport, less than a week before the IRPT was due to convene its party conference. The IRPT had invited approximately 200 foreigners to attend the party conference. According to IRPT leader Muhiddin Kabiri, the change in airport visa procedures was designed to hamper the gathering. There were a few attacks against the political opposition. For example, in April a group of unknown persons in Dushanbe beat Makhmadali Khait, the deputy head of the IRPT. Khait required hospitalization in intensive care. A Freedom House report linked the attack on Khait to increasing government pressure on and intimidation of the IRPT in the period preceding the November presidential election. The government did not indicate that it had opened any investigation into the case.
The Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) was part of a curious alliance during the 1992-97 Tajik Civil War. The IRPT is exclusively a Sunni Muslim group but during the war years its allies were a mainly Shi'ite group from eastern Tajikistan -- Lali Badakhshan -- and the Democratic Party of Tajikistan. Together they formed the United Tajik Opposition (UTO). Their wartime opponents -- the Tajik government -- were overwhelmingly officials from the Soviet-era communist government, atheists with no exposure to representative democracy.
The IRPT was the only legal Islamist political party in the former Soviet Union. It was granted such status as part of the country’s post-civil war peace settlement, and for 15 years was represented in Tajikistan’s parliament. Despite being the second largest party in Tajikistan with a conservative estimate of some 40,000 members the IRPT failed to win even one seat in the 01 March 2015 parliamentary.
The IRPT called for respecting Tajikistan’s secular constitution and international religious freedom commitments. It opposed the government’s decision in 2005 to close eight mosques near the Uzbek border and its destruction in 2007 of mosques in the capital, Dushanbe. Last year, the IRPT backed a parliamentary initiative that would allow children to attend mosques, which Tajik law currently forbids, and in 2015 it criticized a government campaign against beards and headscarves.
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