DUSHANBE, February 3, 2015, Asia-Plus — The Agrarian Party of Tajikistan (APT) intends to forms its faction in the lower house (Majlisi Namoyandagon) of the parliament (Majlisi Oli).
“Three members of the APT came to the parliament from the party list and two other members of the party won elections in single-mandate constituencies,” Munim Abdusamadov, a spokesman for the APT told Asia-Plus in an interview.
According to him, the APT member Ahmadjon Qodirov won elections in the Spitamen single-mandate constituency (Sughd province) and the APT member Zayniddin Safarov won elections in the Vose single-mandate constituency (Khatlon province).
According to Tajikistan’s election legislation, at least five MPs are needed to form a faction.
The Agrarian Party of Tajikistan (APT) is the brainchild of its first chairman Amir Qaraqulov. The first deputy head of the party, Rustam Latifzoda, was elected acting chairman of the Agrarian Party in March last year after Amir Qaraqulov’s death. He was elected chairman of the party at the APT congress that took place in Dushanbe on December 18, 2014.
The Agrarian Party of Tajikistan was registered with the Ministry of Justice in November 2005. Like the Party of Economic Reforms (PER) that was also registered with the Ministry of Justice in November 2005, the Agrarian Party is seen as a “pocket party.” In 2010, the APT won two seats in the Majlisi Namoyandagon.
According to some source, the APT now has some 30,000 members. The majority of APT”s members are farmers and peasants, but the upper echelon are agriculture specialists.
The APT has no clear ideological outline, and mainly focuses on the issue of agricultural production. The party advocates for a halt in export of raw materials from Tajikistan, and for the country to switch to the production and export of finished products.
