DUSHANBE, December 25, 2009, Asia-Plus — A two-day seminar entitled “Youth and Democratic Election Standards” for students from Dushanbe universities is concluding in Dushanbe today.
Organized by the OSCE Office in Tajikistan, the seminar brought together students from Russian-Tajik Slavic University (RTSU), Tajik National University, Technological University, Technical University and Pedagogical University.
According to Ms. Nigina Abdulloyeva, a chief assistant for election reform issues, OSCE Office in Tajikistan, the main objective of the seminar is in making youth aware of basic international standards for democratic elections, giving them an opportunity to propose ways of active participation in the election process and creating a platform for discussions on the subject of how to make elections transparent and democratic complying with international standards as well as acquainting them with Tajikistan’s election legislation.
She added that it was the second of a series of seminars on that subject. The first one took place on December 8-9 this year.
The OSCE Office in Tajikistan assists the country in modernizing its electoral legislation and procedures to comply with OSCE principles and commitments. In coordination with the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the Office in Tajikistan assists in drafting new election laws and works to raise awareness on legislation and political parties.
In 2008, the Office helped all eight registered political parties, the National Association of Political Scientists of Tajikistan and the Central Commission on Elections and Referenda to conduct a review of Tajikistan”s parliamentary election law, the results of which were presented to Parliament. The Office later held a roundtable on elections in Tajikistan in co-operation with the Government.
At a working group meeting hosted by the Office in 2009, 14 NGOs discussed the national election law and informed Parliament of their recommendations for reforms ahead of the parliamentary elections due in February 2010. The inclusion of non-partisan representatives of civil society among election observers was one of the key reforms requested.
