DUSHANBE, March 28, 2009, Asia-Plus — Although only nine months remain till the announcement of the date of parliamentary elections in the country, an active phase of preparations for holding of them has not yet started, Muhibullo Dodojonov, a spokesman for the Central Commission for elections and Referenda (CCER), said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
According to him, one of the main reasons for the situation is shortage of finance for making preparations for the elections due in February 2010.
“In 2004, the situation was much better. That time, we managed to adopt a new parliamentary election law that was actively discussed among the population, while this year, the parliament began discussing a new draft law on election to the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) just recently,” Dodojonov said, noting that parliament is expected to adopt the draft law in mid-May.
“As far as attention of international organizations to the upcoming parliamentary elections in Tajikistan is concerned, no projects related to the elections in Tajikistan are planned to be discussed in the near future,” said the spokesman, “Most likely this is connected with the ongoing financial crisis. They showed more interest to the parliamentary elections in 2005 and the presidential elections in 2006, you know.”
He noted that political parties were still also inactive in preparations for the 2010 parliamentary elections. According to him, preparations for elections depend on financial opportunities of political situations.
