DUSHANBE, March 2, 2010, Asia-Plus — The ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDPT) has won the vast majority of seats in the next Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament).
Muhibullo Dadajonov, an official with the Central Commission for Elections and Referenda (CCER), told Asia-Plus Tuesday afternoon that according to the preliminary data, PDPT members have won elections in 37 of 40 single-mandate constituencies so far, while a second round of voting will be held in the Konibodom single-mandate constituency, Sughd province on March 14.
The Majlisi Namoyandagon has 63 members and 41 members are elected from single-mandate constituencies. In the single mandate constituencies, candidates must win an absolute majority of votes to be elected. If none of the contestants manages to win an absolute majority during the first round, a second round of voting is held between the two leading candidates two weeks later. For any of the elections to be valid, there must be at least a 50% voter turnout.
Dadajonov said that the PDPT candidate Nasrullo Mahmoudov and representative of the Social-Democratic Party (SDPT) Shokijon Hakimov would compete for a seat in parliament in the second round of voting in the Konibodom constituency.
For the first time, five political parties passed the 5 percent threshold to get a seat in parliament – PDPT (71.69), the Islamic Revival Party (7.74 percent), the Communist Party (7.22), the Agrarian Party (5.1 percent) and the party of Economic Reforms (5.09 percent).
Besides, the Agrarian Party candidate has won elections in the Vose single-mandate constituencies, representative of the Party of Economic Reforms has won elections in the Hissar single-mandate constituency and the Communist Party candidate has won elections in the Khujand single-mandate constituency.
Thus, to-date, PDPT has won 53 seats in the next parliament, the Communist Party – 3 seats, and the Islamic Revival party, the Agrarian Party, and the Party of Election Reforms – 2 seats each.
