DUSHANBE, March 17, 2015, Asia-Plus — In a statement delivered at the fist sitting of the first session of the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) of the fifth convocation, President Emomali Rahmon said on March 17 that the March 1 parliamentary elections “were democratic, free and transparent,” the Tajik president’s official website reports.
The president reportedly noted that numerous international election observers and representatives of international organizations had recognized the March 1 parliamentary elections as “democratic and transparent.”
Emomali Rahmon stressed that two academicians, eight doctors of sciences and 17 candidates of sciences had been elected to the lower house of the parliament.
According to the final parliamentary election results, the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) received 65.4 percent of the votes cast in the March 1 elections (according to the preliminary results, 65.2 percent), the Agrarian Party (APT) – 11.7 percent (11.8 percent), the Party of Economic Reforms (PER) – 7.5 percent (7.6 percent), and the Socialist Party (SPT) – 5.5 percent (5.5 percent).
Thus, 16 PDP members, 3 APT members, 2 PER members and 1 SPT member came to the Majlisi Namoyandagon from party lists.
Meanwhile, the Communist Party (CPT), the Islamic Revival Party (IRP), the Democratic Party (DPT) and the Social-Democratic Party (SDP) failed to clear the 5 percent threshold needed to win parliamentary seats.
The CPT reportedly garnered only 2.2 percent in the March 1 vote (according to the preliminary results, 2.3 percent), the IRP – 1.6 percent (1.5 percent), the DPT – 1.7 percent (1.7 percent), and the SDP – 0.5 percent (0.5 percent).
In all, 103 candidates competed for 22 seats in the 63-seat lower parliament house from party lists.
Besides, 182 candidates competed for 41 seats in the Majlisi Namoyandagon in single-mandate constituencies.
The PDP, led by President Emomali Rahmon, won elections in 35 single-mandate constituencies the APT and the CPT in 2 single-mandate constituencies each, and the PER and the DPT in one single-mandate constituency each.
CPT leader Shodi Shabdolov has decried the 2015 Tajik parliamentary elections as “a political farce.” He, however, said it makes no sense to mount an official challenge, suggesting he doubted it could lead to a review or reversal of the announced results.
IRP leader Muhiddin Kabiri noted in his postelection speech that his party does not recognize the election results released by the Central Commission for Elections and Referenda (CCER).
The OSCE’s international observer mission said on March 2 that the parliamentary polls took place in a “restricted political space” and failed to provide a level playing field for candidates.
Tajikistan’s Parliament (Majlisi Oli) has two chambers: the Assembly of Representatives (Majlisi Namoyandagon) and the National Assembly (Majlisi Milli). Majlisi Namoyandagon has 63 members, elected for a five-year term in, 22 by proportional representation (party list) and 41 in single-seat constituencies.
