DUSHANBE, October 30, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan’s Central Commission for Elections and Referenda (CCER) has launched an active phase of preparations for upcoming parliamentary elections due in February 2010, the CCER official Muhibullo Dodojonov said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
“We have begun publishing election-relate standard-legal acts and they will be sent to the regions in the near future,” said Dodojonov, “The main objective of this phase is in making voters ready for elections and making them aware of their rights and duties.”
Asked about the process of preparation of agitation materials, he said that it was still premature to speak about them because the election date has not yet been fixed.
“Under the country’s legislation, the election date is fixed by president’s decree three months prior to the elections,” said Dodojonov, “Most likely, the parliamentary elections will be held in late February 2010.”
He added that unlike the previous parliamentary elections, many international organizations have not yet joined in with preparations for holding of next-year’s parliamentary elections in Tajikistan. “Many international organizations had previously been providing us assistance with preparation and holding of the parliamentary elections through organizing seminars, roundtable discussion meetings and making copies of documents, while at present they are still paying scant attention to the upcoming elections,” said the CCER official, “Probably, the global financial crisis has negatively impacted them.”
We will recall that Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported on March 10 this year that that Dodojonov has warned that the CCER needs far more cash than has been pledged in order to effectively supervise next year”s parliamentary elections. He told RFE/RL”s Tajik Service that at least 5 million somoni is needed for the commission to conduct its work in relation to the process, while the government has said it will provide 3 million somoni. Dodojonov added that funds will be needed to pay the salaries of local election-commission members.
Tajikistan”s 2005 parliamentary elections were criticized as flawed by international monitors and opposition parties.
