DUSHANBE, February 26, 2010, Asia-Plus — The term of election campaign activities will expire today night at 24:00 and Tajikistan will then observe what officials are calling a day of silence before people vote for a new parliament in Sunday’s general elections.
The media is banned from referring to parties, politicians, policies or opinion polls.
We will recall that according to the election law, contestants are allowed to start campaigning after their registration by the election administration. The registration process started on January 15 and was completed on February 8. While all eight party lists were registered on January 19, candidates in single-mandate constituencies were registered on different dates.
Campaign topics at meetings with voters included the construction of the Roghun dam as well as energy supply issues in general, support to labor migrants, creation of more job opportunities, health care, education, state support to agriculture and industry, and the fight against corruption. In addition to meetings with voters, campaign activities included door-to-door campaigning, distribution of leaflets and display of posters.
Seventy-three party list candidates were registered by the Central Commission for Elections and Referenda (CCER) to contest 22 seats in the single nationwide constituency. Besides, 144 candidates, with 65 of them being self-propelled candidates, will compete for seats in parliament in 41 single-mandate constituencies.
The Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) has 63 members, who are directly elected for a period of 5 years. 22 are elected through a proportional, party list system from a single, countrywide constituency. To win seats, parties must pass a five percent threshold. The remaining 41 members are elected from single-mandate constituencies under a majoritarian system.
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. According to the CCER, some 3.5 million voters were registered countrywide.
