Tajikistan Holds First Parliamentary Elections Since Banning Key Opposition

Voters in Tajikistan are heading to the polls for parliamentary elections on March 1, marking the authoritarian Central Asian nation’s first balloting since the Supreme Court in 2015 outlawed the Islamic Renaissance Party (IRPT), a leading opposition group.

President Emomali Rahmon’s People’s Democratic Party is widely expected to retain majority in the 63-seat Majlisi Namoyandagon, the lower house of parliament.

Six other smaller parties are taking part in the elections — with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) the only opposition group among them.

The SDP registered five candidates after it was forced to reduce the initial eight-strong party list due to lack of money to pay the nearly $600 application fee per nominee.

The SDP has been unable in the past elections to pass the 5 percent minimum barrier to get a seat in the legislature. The party has blamed it on Tajik authorities’ failure to hold free and fair elections.

Past elections in Tajikistan have been marred by allegations of fraud, including ballot-box stuffing, multiple voting, and the disregard of the vote-counting procedures by election officials.

The government has long been criticized for clamping down on opposition groups and critics.

Opposition movement Group 24 was banned as an extremist organization in 2014, and the IRPT was branded a “terrorist organization” the following year. Both deny the allegations.

Muhiddin Kabiri, the IRPT leader, said the opposition has urged its supporters to vote for Social Democrats instead of simply ignoring the elections.

“We know that these elections won’t be transparent and democratic, but we still want to use this very small window of opportunity to try to convince people once again that the only peaceful way to bring changes to society is through the elections,” Kabiri told RFE/RL on February 27.

Parliament in Tajikistan is seen as rubber-stamp body, while real political power is consolidated in the hands of President Rahmon, who has been in power since 1992.

The Central Election Commission said 241 candidates have been registered to participate in the elections.

Forty-one lawmakers will be elected from single-mandate districts, and the other 22 seats are determined by the party list system.

In the single-mandate districts, a candidate must receive 50 percent plus one of votes to win outright in the first round.

If no candidate reaches that level, the two candidates with the most votes will compete in a second round.

According to the Central Election Commission, there are 4,793,282 eligible voters, including labor migrants residing abroad.

Widespread unemployment has forced hundreds of thousands of Tajik to become migrant workers in Russia.

Tajikistan’s embassy in Moscow said it has prepared five polling stations in Russia for Tajik migrants workers to vote.

At least 50 percent of all voters must cast their ballots for the election to be considered valid.If the turnout is less than 50 percent, a new election will be called. Tajikistan usually reports a high turnout.