DUSHANBE, March 11, 2015, Asia-Plus — Abdumannon Dodozoda, the head of Tajikistan’s Central Commission for Elections and Referenda (CCER), will participate in a three-day meeting of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) that will kick off in Brussels on March 29.
An official source at the Tajik central electoral commission says Mr. Dodozoda will inform the meeting participants about the 2015 parliamentary elections that took place in Tajikistan on March 1.
“He will also present a detail report on changes made to the country’s election legislation following recommendations of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR),” the source said.
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 the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower house of parliament).
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 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.
The European Commission for Democracy through Law is an advisory body of the Council of Europe, composed of independent experts in the field of constitutional law. It is usually referred to as the Venice Commission due to its meeting place in Venice, Italy, where sessions take part four times a year. The Commission was created in 1990 after the fall of the Berlin wall, at a time of urgent need for constitutional assistance in Central and Eastern Europe.
Starting with 18 member states, soon all member states of the Council of Europe joined the Venice Commission and since 2002 non-European states can also become full members. As of July 13, 2014, the Commission counts 60 member states – the 47 member states of the Council of Europe and 12 other countries. The EU, OSCE/ODIHR and the International Association of Constitutional Law (IACL) participate in the plenary sessions of the Commission.
The Venice Commission’s primary task is to assist and advise individual countries in constitutional matters in order to improve functioning of democratic institutions and the protection of human rights.
