DUSHANBE, January 27, 2014, Asia-Plus — Parliamentarians Muhiddin Kabiri and Saidumar Husaini, who represent the Islamic Revival Party (IRP) in Tajikistan’s lower house (Majlisi Namoyandagon) of parliament, have proposed to make amendments to the Constitutional Law “On Elections to the Majlisi Oli.”
“We, in particular, propose to reduce the electoral deposit for parliament candidates form 8,000 somoni to 800 somoni,” Saidumar Husaini told Asia-Plus in an interview.
“If parliament candidate gets more than ten percent of the vote, the electoral deposit will be returned to him,” MP Husain, who is also IRP deputy leader, stressed.
We will recall that the board (Shuro) of the Majlisi Namoyandagon on January 6 considered amendments proposed to the mentioned law by MP Mahmadali Vatanov, who heads the Majlisi Namoyandagon Committee on Legislation and Human Rights.
MP Vatanov proposes to reduce the electoral deposit required from each candidate from 8,000 somoni to 4,000 somoni.
Representatives of political parties and local experts have repeatedly noted that a sizeable electoral deposit prevents many prospective candidates from running.
The Majlisi Namoyandagon consists of 63 deputies, and currently, 22 of them are elected proportionally from political party lists in a single nationwide constituency with a 5 percent threshold for seat allocation and forty-one deputies are elected in single-mandate constituencies under a two-round majoritarian system.
