DUSHANBE, September 2, 2009, Asia-Plus — Many points of the draft law on elections to the parliament, authored by MP Shodi Shabdolov, are in contrary to the country’s Constitution, Muhibullo Dodojonov, an official with the Central Commission for Elections and Referenda (CCER), said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
“Thus, inclusion of representative of political parties in electoral commissions is in contrary to Article 57 of the Constitution. Moreover, not all political parties have their representatives in all regions of the country,” Dodojonov said.
On the elimination of the registered fee imposed on individuals seeking to contest the election, the CCER official noted that election are held in Tajikistan due to funds allocated by the government and funds provided by candidates themselves. “If the registration fee is eliminated, we may not be able to afford to hold elections,” he stressed.
Concerning the proposal on reducing the threshold percentage required for political parties to enter parliament from 5 to 3 percent, Dodojonov noted that each political party may have a party list of 22 candidates for parliamentary election and “these candidates may win 4.5 percent of votes each.” “Therefore, it is impossible to reduce the threshold percentage,” he said.
“The proposed draft law requires changing the whole system of elections in the country while significant funds are needed for that,” the CCER representative said.
