DUSHANBE, November 4 – Dushanbe does not look like a city to have presidential elections three days from now.
There are few billboards urging voters to visit polling stations, and small posters with election programs of the candidates on Dushanbe central streets. Billboards of incumbent President Emomali Rahmonov obviously stand out.
“The real Tajik opposition does not take part in these elections,” Russian Ambassador in Dushanbe Ramazan Abdulatipov told Itar-Tass. “This is because the new opposition has not taken shape. The old opposition, which is the Islamic Revival Party, is no longer a factor of influence on the balance of forces.”
A slogan of “let it be as long as there is no war” is very topical in modern Tajikistan, the ambassador said. “Citizens still remember well the horrors of the civil war that claimed thousands of lives. The present-day situation is stable and calm,” he added.
Security is not tightened ahead of the elections, and people can freely approach the fence and gates of the presidential palace in downtown Dushanbe. A lone officer regulates the low traffic in front of the presidential residence.
There are five presidential candidates in Tajikistan, namely incumbent President Rahmonov, Communist Party Central Committee Secretary and parliament deputy Ismoil Talbakov, Economic Reforms Party Chairman and Tajik Transport Institute Rector Olimjon Boboyev, Socialist Party Chairman Abduhalim Ghafforov and Agrarian Party leader Amirqul Qaroqulov.
Tajikistan has over 3.2 million voters. Sixty-eight district elections commissions and 3,200 polling stations have been formed, including 18 abroad.
The republic has a population of about 6.5 million.
According to the Central Elections Commission, the ballot will be watched by over 700 international observers, including representatives of the CIS, the OSCE and several countries.
