DUSHANBE, March 10, 2015, Asia-Plus — The Social-Democratic Party is seriously concerned over the results of the March 1 parliamentary elections published by the Central Commission for Elections and Referenda (CCER).
In a statement released on March 10, the SDP notes that the authorities made a serious political mistake removing opposition from the parliament.
SDP leader Rahmatillo Zoyirov says the election results have made voters shudder.
According to him, a shock caused by the preliminary election results has been replaced with an alarm.
The elections were not free and not transparent and the election results are the consequence of gross interference of the authorities in the voting process, the statement says.
We will recall that the March 1 parliamentary election left only the ruling People”s Democratic Party along with pro-government groups — the Agrarian Party (APT), the Party of Economic Reforms (PER), and the Socialist Party (SPT) — with seats in parliament. The SPT gained entrance to the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower house of parliament) for the first time.
Meanwhile, the Communist Party (CPT) and the Islamic Revival Party (IRP) failed to clear the 5 percent threshold needed to win parliamentary seats for the first time since Tajikistan gained independence in 1991.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)’s international observer mission said on March 2 that the parliamentary polls took place in a “restricted political space” and failed to provide a level playing field for candidates.
CPT leader Shodi Shabdolov called the 2015 parliamentary elections “a political farce” and IRP leader Muhiddin Kabiri noted in his postelection speech on March 2 that the election were non-transparent and non-democratic.
