Parliamentary election in Tajikistan 2020

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  • Communist Party of Tajikistan : 2 seats
  • Socialist Party: 1 seat
  • People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan : 47 seats
  • Agricultural Party: 7 seats
  • Economic Reform Party: 5 seats
  • Democratic Party: 1 seat

    • The 2020 parliamentary election in Tajikistan was held in the Republic of Tajikistan on March 1, 2020 . The 63 MPs in the House of Representatives of the political bicameral system in Tajikistan were elected.

    Electoral system

    The electoral system remained largely unchanged from the previous parliamentary elections in Tajikistan in 2015 . Again, 41 mandates were awarded by majority vote in 41 constituencies. A candidate needed an absolute majority of at least 50% of the votes cast in order to enter the House of Representatives after the first ballot. If none of the candidates in the first ballot succeeds, a runoff election between the two most successful candidates in the first ballot will be held within two weeks of the first ballot . The remaining 22 seats were distributed through a nationwide proportional representation . For this purpose, the registered parties in the country drew up election lists , from which a certain number of candidates entered the assembly of representatives, depending on the party's share of the vote. A blocking clause of 5% of the votes cast applied, parties with a lower proportion of the votes could not send MPs from the electoral list. For the election to be valid, a voter turnout of at least 50% in each electoral district was necessary, otherwise the election had to be repeated in the districts with a lower turnout. The right to vote was for Tajik citizens who were at least 18 years old at the time of the election. Prisoners and people with a mental disability or mental disorder were excluded . A central electoral roll was not available in the run-up to the election, the registration of the eligible population took place at the local level and was then sent to the Central Electoral Commission in the capital Dushanbe . The right to stand for election was for Tajik citizens aged 30 or over who spoke the Tajik language , had been permanently resident in Tajikistan for at least five years prior to the election and had no previous convictions . Candidates could be nominated either by one of the registered parties in the country or as an independent candidate in one of the 41 electoral districts. Independent candidates had to show the signatures of at least 500 supporters for their registration. All registered candidates also had to deposit a fee of 5,800 somoni , around 600 € at the time of the election, with the Central Electoral Commission. This fee was only paid back if the candidate received at least 10% of the votes in his constituency or if his party exceeded the 5 percent threshold nationwide.

    Parties and candidates

    A total of 241 candidates were registered by the Central Election Commission. 65 candidates were nominated by the seven registered parties via the electoral lists, 176 candidates ran in the 41 electoral districts, of which 91 candidates were nominated by a party. The registered parties in Tajikistan at the time of the election were:

    The most important and largest party in the country was the People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan of President Rahmon. After the last parliamentary election in 2015, she had an absolute majority with 51 seats in the House of Representatives. The Social Democratic Party was the only openly opposition party; the other parties largely supported the president's course and only set their own priorities in individual areas. Overall, the field of candidates was therefore characterized by a lack of pluralism . Compared to previous parliamentary elections in Tajikistan, the opposition was further weakened by the exclusion of the Islamic Party for the Rebirth of Tajikistan , the country's most important opposition party to date. The Islamic Rebirth Party was asked by the Justice Ministry in August 2015 to end all political activities. In September 2015, the Supreme Court of Tajikistan ruled that the party was a terrorist organization . The leader of the Islamic Rebirth Party, Muhiddin Kabiri, called in the run-up to the election for the Social Democratic Party to be elected as the only remaining opposition party.

    Election campaign

    Tajik suffrage provides for a free election campaign with equal opportunities for all candidates, but this did not apply to the political reality in the country. Rather, the election campaign took place in a strictly controlled and restricted environment in which, among other things, freedom of expression and assembly were severely restricted. The Central Election Commission and its regional branches were of essential importance for the organization of the election campaign. These institutions had to approve all campaign materials and were involved in planning campaign events. One of the most important means of campaigning was small indoor events where a candidate could introduce himself to a small group of voters. These events were approved and organized by the electoral commission and were carried out almost nationwide by all parties. In addition, the Central Election Commission created standardized election posters with a picture and the curriculum vitae of the respective candidate. These posters were hung up in particular in the cities of the country, especially by the People's Democratic Party. For the first time, two parties, the People's Democratic Party and the Social Democratic Party, used social media for election campaign purposes, albeit to a very limited extent. The media landscape in Tajikistan was also under strict state control. The most important media belonged to the state and reported not neutrally, but clearly positively about the president and the ruling party. Journalists were severely restricted in their work as they face long prison sentences if a court found them to insult or slander the President. Numerous websites of foreign media were blocked in Tajikistan, the pages of Radio Free Europe and Asia Plus were also blocked for the duration of the election campaign.

    Result

    On March 2, 2020, the Central Election Commission announced the preliminary results of the election at a press conference. The voter turnout was given as 86.4% and thus clearly exceeded the prescribed 50%. Because the Social Democratic Party failed to pass the 5 percent hurdle, no opposition party was represented in parliament.

    Political party Majority seats Proportional representation Total seats Comparison 2015
    People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan 35 12 47 −4
    Agrarian Party 3 4th 7th +2
    Economic reform party 1 4th 5 +2
    Communist Party of Tajikistan 2 0 2 ± 0
    Socialist party 0 1 1 −1
    Democratic Party 0 1 1 +1
    Social Democratic Party 0 0 0 ± 0
    total 41 22nd 63 ± 0

    rating

    The election was accompanied by domestic and foreign observers. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) also sent observers to Tajikistan. In their final report, they came to the conclusion that the election clearly fell short of democratic standards. Among other things, they criticized the restriction of freedom of expression and assembly, the control of the media, the exclusion of the Islamic Party of the Rebirth of Tajikistan and the lack of political pluralism in Tajikistan. In addition, the observers recorded numerous irregularities on election day, including numerous cases of multiple votes. The chairman of the election commission Khudoyorzoda, however, described the election as fair and transparent.

    Individual evidence

    1. ↑ OSCE (ed.): ODIHR Election Assessment Mission Final Report . 1st edition. Warsaw May 27, 2020, p. 5-14 .
    2. ↑ IPU PARLINE database: TAJIKISTAN (Majlisi namoyandogon), Electoral system. Accessed June 10, 2020 .
    3. ^ A b Tajik Ruling Party Expected To Secure Victory In Parliamentary Elections. Retrieved June 11, 2020 .
    4. ^ The Case of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan. Retrieved June 11, 2020 .
    5. ↑ Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com): In Tajikistan everything will probably stay the same DW | 01.03.2020. Accessed June 11, 2020 (German).
    6. ↑ OSCE (ed.): ODIHR Election Assessment Mission Final Report . 1st edition. Warsaw May 27, 2020, p. 16-19 .
    7. ^ Christophe Pitiot: Ruling party in Tajikistan expected to sweep parliamentary election. March 1, 2020, accessed June 11, 2020 .
    8. ↑ OSCE (ed.): ODIHR Election Assessment Mission Final Report . 1st edition. Warsaw May 27, 2020, p. 26 .
    9. ↑ CPT, SDPT fail to pass a 5-oersent threshold to get into the parliament, says CCER head | Tajikistan News ASIA-Plus. Retrieved June 11, 2020 .
    10. ↑ OSCE (ed.): ODIHR Election Assessment Mission Final Report . 1st edition. Warsaw May 27, 2020, p. 1-4 .