DUSHANBE, February 24, 2010, Asia-Plus — The Central Commission for Elections and Referenda (CCER) has held no sessions since January 19, raising concerns about the transparency and accountability of its work, interim report No 2 released by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) election observation mission for the February parliamentary elections in Tajikistan on February 22 said.
According to the report, the OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission has observed that senior officials from regional and local government are members of election commissions, especially in the district election commissions (DECs). While not contravening the election law, the presence of senior local officials as DEC members in combination with the prevalence of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDPT) as DEC members raises concerns regarding the independence of the election administration.
The OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission was informed by several political parties about alleged obstruction of their campaigning by the authorities, including allegations of police interference and use of state resources by the ruling party for campaign purposes.
Some opposition parties express to the OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission that they lack trust in election commissions and courts to impartially and effectively consider election-related complaints. Some electoral contestants also indicated a reluctance to make formal complaints, in order to avoid negative repercussions from the authorities. Instead, they attempted to settle disputes in an informal manner. The OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission has observed that electoral contestants also find it difficult to prepare written complaints in a proper format, with the necessary factual detail, legal argument, and reference to supporting evidence.
Several self-nominated candidates complained to the CCER that a regional governor instructed subordinates to ensure the election of a PDPT-nominated candidate. The court case concerned denial of candidate registration due to invalid signatures. None of these complaints dealt with by the election commissions and court has so far been successful, the report noted.
Voter lists were compiled by precinct election commissions (PECs) by February 13, within the legal deadline. Voter lists have been posted for public scrutiny at polling stations. The CCER informed the OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission that 3,459,164 voters were registered countrywide. In the absence of specific instructions on voter list compilation, the OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission noted that PECs compiled the lists using a variety of methods. OSCE/ODIHR observers reported that some PECs registered migrant workers expected to return by election day in separate voter lists, which are displayed next to the ‘regular’ voter lists. In other PECs, the voter lists include a separate section for citizens who are temporarily abroad. In Khujand, PECs hired buses to visit remote areas in order to register voters. In general, the voter lists are handwritten. The lack of a centralized database means that national crosschecks, elimination of multiple entries and regular updates of deceased voters and voters who have changed their place of residence is effectively not possible.
