DUSHANBE, September 2, 2009, Asia-Plus — Practice has shown once again that the Tajik government does not have a political will for improvement of the parliamentary elections code, the deputy head of the Social-Democratic Party (SDPT) Shokirjon Hakimov told Asia-Plus, commenting on a negative resolution passed by the government on the draft law “On Elections to the Majlisi Oli (Tajik parliament).”
“The bill worked out by the Communist leader also deputy of the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) Shodi Shabdolov is a kind of synthesis of proposals of other political parties on making amendments to the current parliamentary elections code,” said Hakimov. “If we want to strengthen a role of parliament in public management it is necessary to support this bill.”
“The government justifies its resolution on the bill by saying that there is no enough funds for adoption of Shabdolov’s proposals, but the country’s authorities should realize that the registration fee imposed by the present parliamentary election law on individuals seeking to contest the election prevents candidates of many parties from running in parliamentary elections,” the SDPT deputy leader stressed.
We will recall that the new draft parliamentary election law offers the elimination of the fee needed to run for political office in the country and suggests that members of the electoral commissions should be elected. It also proposes to reduce the threshold percentage required for political parties to enter parliament from 5 to 3 percent.
