DUSHANBE, October 21, 2013, Asia-Plus — The Islamic Revival Party (IRP) has decided to abstain from voting in the 2013 presidential election scheduled for November 6.
According to a statement released by the IRP board, they have decided to abstain from voting in the upcoming presidential election because their nominee for president, Ms. Oynihol Bobonazarova, has not been registered.
“The position of the IRP Political Council on the results of the presidential election will be published after the election,” the statement said.
“Members of the IRP Political Council will not participate in the voting, but this does not mean that the IRP will boycott the presidential election,” the deputy head of the IRP, Mahmadali Hayit, told Asia-Plus in an interview.
We will recall that the Central Commission for Elections and Referenda (CCER) has refused the Islamic Revival Party (IRP)’s application for registration of its nominee for president.
The CCER justified its refusal by saying that the IRP has failed to submit appropriate documents to the Commission at proper time.
We will recall that IRP’s nominee for president, Ms. Oynihol Bobonazarova, fell short of the necessary signatures required.
The signature-gathering processing concluded at 6:00 pm of October 10 but the CCCER extended the registration deadline until October 11 in order to give Ms. Bobonazarova more time to hand over the required 210,000 signatures of her supporters.
Bobonazarova’s campaign staff, however, narrowly missed collecting the required number of signatures to register for the poll. Her campaign staff members reportedly gathered only 210, 236 signatures to support her candidacy.
A meeting of the Tajik Association of Reformist Forces (TARF) took place in Dushanbe on October 14 and its representatives say that the TARF members will boycott the 2013 presidential elections if the Islamic Revival Party (IRP)’s nominee for president, Ms. Oynihol Bobonazarova, is not registered with the CCER.
The TARF representatives have argued that more than 201,000 signatures collected to support Ms. Bobonazarova’s candidacy make her eligible, since the law requires the support of 5 percent of the country”s estimated 4 million eligible voters.
Founded in October 1990, the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan was registered on December 4, 1991. It was banned by the Supreme Court in June 1993 and legalized in August 1999. Its official newspaper is
Najot
(Salvation). According to some sources, IRP now has more than 40,000 members. Since 2000, it has had two seats in the country’s lower house (Majlisi Namoyandagon) of parliament. The Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan is the only Islamic party registered in CIS Central Asia.
