DUSHANBE, December 8, 2014, Asia-Plus — “We are the second largest political party in Tajikistan after the People’s Democratic Party,” Ziyo Rahmon, a spokesman for the Agrarian Party of Tajikistan (APT), told Asia-Plus in an interview on December 8.
According to him, the number of the party members has increased from some 30,000 people at the end of the last year to 44,876 people by December 5.
The ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is the largest party in the country, boasting more than 250,000 registered members.
The Communist Party (CPT) and the Islamic Revival Party (IRP) say they have 40,000 registered members each.
Meanwhile, the APT is expected to hold its sixth congress in Dushanbe on December 18. The congress will determine a party list of candidates for the 2015 parliamentary elections and elect new leader of the party.
Ziyo Rahmon noted that their party would nominate 24 candidates for the 2015 parliamentary elections. “10 candidates will be included in the party list and 14 candidates will run in single-mandate constituencies,” the APT spokesman said.
The Agrarian Party of Tajikistan (APT) is the brainchild of its first chairman Amir Qaraqulov. The first deputy head of the party, Rustam Latifzoda, was elected acting chairman of the Agrarian Party in March this year after Amir Qaraqulov’s death.
The Agrarian Party of Tajikistan was registered with the Ministry of Justice in November 2005. Like the Party of Economic Reforms that was also registered with the Ministry of Justice in November 2005, the Agrarian Party is seen as a “pocket party.” In 2010, the APT won two seats in the Majlisi Namoyandagon.
The majority of APT”s members are farmers and peasants, but the upper echelon are agriculture specialists.
The APT has no clear ideological outline, and mainly focuses on the issue of agricultural production. The party advocates for a halt in export of raw materials from Tajikistan, and for the country to switch to the production and export of finished products.
