DUSHANBE, March 4, Asia-Plus — A new political party Vahdat (Union) has resubmitted it documents for registration to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
Speaking an interview with Asia-Plus, Davlat Sulaymonov, the head of the MoJ department for registration pf political parties and pubic associations, said that it is already the sixth attempt made by the party to register itself with the ministry.
“We will consider the submitted documents and make decision on registering the party within the legally admissible period,” Sulaymonov said, noting that by law, the ministry has 30 days after registration documents have been submitted to accept or reject them.
According to him, the ministry had previously rejected Vahdat’s registration documents because they had not met requirements of Articles 3 and 7 of the RT Law “On Political Parties.”
“Thus, under Article 3 political party should submit a list of 1,000 supporters,” said Sulaymonov. “When checking the list of supporters submitted by Vahdat, we have established that the party does not have enough number of supporters for registration.”
In the meantime, referring to Vahdat’s leader Hikmatullo Saidov, a report on the human rights situation in Tajikistan in 2006 prepared by the Republican Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law noted that the party has some 3,000 supporters and its primary organizations in the majority of regions of the country. The report also noted that Vahdat is not an opposition party and it supports policy of the present government.
Eight political parties now officially function in Tajikistan: ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDPT); Democratic Party (DPT), Social-Democratic Party (SDPT); Islamic Revival Party (IRPT); Communist Party (CPT); Socialist Party (SPT); Agrarian Party (APT); and the Party of Economic Reforms.
