Tajikistan - Politics 2015
Tajikistan is an authoritarian state dominated politically by President Emomali Rahmon and his supporters. The constitution provides for a multiparty political system, but the government has historically obstructed political pluralism and continued to do so during the year. The March parliamentary elections lacked pluralism and genuine choice, according to international observers, many of whom called the process deeply flawed. Civilian authorities maintained effective control over security forces. The most significant human rights problems included citizens’ inability to change their government through free and fair elections; torture and abuse of detainees and other persons by security forces; and repression of political activists and opposition groups.
The 2015 elections were held in the context of an economic slump in Russia and a sharp depreciation of Russian ruble, which led many Tajiks working in Russian to return home. During the election campaign, President Rakhmon, who has been in power since 1992, promised 200,000 extra jobs for Tajiks returning from Russia.
By mid-November 2015 the Tajik government's efforts to control religious activities, especially those of the country’s majority Muslim population, included the recent ban of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) due to allegations of extremism, the arrest of some 200 IRPT activists, and the alleged torture and other human rights abuses committed against IRPT detainees. Until 2015, these terrorists were part of Tajikistan's government and partners in a peace deal that had lasted 18 years.
President Emomali Rahmon's People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan (PDPT) took 51 seats, retaining its majority in the 63-member House of Representatives. Three pro-government parties - the Agrarian Party of Tajikistan (APT), the Party of Economic Reforms of Tajikistan (PER) and Socialist Party of Tajikistan (SPT) took additional 10 seats. The Communist Party of Tajikistan (CPT) became the sole opposition force with two seats. CPT leader Shodi Shabdolov rejected the election results, which he termed an "appointment". The Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), led by Mr. Muhiddin Kabiri, failed to win parliamentary representations for the first time since 1999.
March parliamentary elections resulted in the ruling party winning 51 out of 63 seats in the lower house of parliament. Progovernment parties shared the remaining seats. The IRPT lost two seats, despite widespread public support, and was subsequently banned and designated a terrorist organization by the Supreme Court. Authorities arrested IRPT leaders along with their defense lawyer. Political opposition parties and international NGOs declared the elections unfair.
According to the monitoring report of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the elections “took place in a restricted political space and failed to provide a level playing field for candidates.” The report noted that, while there were some improvements made to the electoral law, authorities did not administer elections in a fair manner, with undue restrictions on freedoms of expression and assembly during the election campaign and significant irregularities, including ballot box stuffing, on voting day.
In January media reported that local authorities in three cities refused the IRPT’s applications to hold campaign conferences, and the Dushanbe Mayor’s Office denied an IRPT application to post campaign materials throughout the city. Citing vague licensing reasons, authorities also blocked some IRPT candidates from campaigning via television or radio despite electoral law providing for that right.
Eight political parties, including the PDPT, were legally registered, but the Supreme Court banned IRPT on September 5. Following claims of its alleged connection to violent attacks against Ministry of Internal Affairs forces in Dushanbe and Vahdat in early September, the Supreme Court designated the IRPT as a terrorist organization. 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. Most members of the country’s 97-seat parliament were members of the PDPT, belonging to progovernment parties, or PDPT-affiliates.
The government interfered in the attempts of political parties to organize and conduct their activities. On July 6, Dushanbe authorities reportedly forced Qiyomiddin Avaz, the head of the IRPT in Dushanbe, to resign from the party. In a statement posted on the IRPT’s website, Avaz said he withdrew from the party after Dushanbe authorities pressured his family and elderly parents. He said he was forced to sign a resignation form affirming his withdrawal from IRPT membership. Consequently, the IRPT board made a decision in mid-May to consider resignation applications, signed under pressure, invalid. In late June dozens of members and IRPT regional office heads announced their resignations from the IRPT in coordinated online videos. The IRPT claimed all those who withdrew their membership in such a manner did so under pressure from security offices in the regions. The IRPT reported 52 party members rescinded their membership after pressure from security officials.
On August 24, the Prosecutor General’s Office closed the IRPT’s headquarters. The Prosecutor General’s Office claimed that the IRPT’s central office in Dushanbe had been sealed because the building in which the office is located was illegally purchased. A source in the IRPT told the media that the party believed the closing of its offices was a deliberate action by the government to disrupt the party congress on September 15. On August 28, citing the notion that IRPT no longer had sufficient registered field offices to continue as a legitimate party, authorities announced the IRPT had 10 days to cease all activities.
On September 29, the Supreme Court declared the IRPT a terrorist group based on charges brought against them by the Prosecutor General’s Office. The Supreme Court’s ruling officially banned the party from any activities in the country, forced the closure of the IRPT’s official newspaper, Najot, and prohibited the distribution of any video, audio, or printed materials related to the party’s activities. In September and October, law enforcement officers arrested 27 high-ranking members of the IRPT. In an official statement, despite lack of evidence, the Office of the Prosecutor General accused them of involvement in “criminal groups” responsible for organizing attacks on September 4 that killed nine law enforcement officers.
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