Presidential election in Tajikistan in 1999
The 1999 presidential election in Tajikistan was held on November 6, 1999 and was the first presidential election since the end of the Tajik Civil War in 1997 . The election winner was the incumbent Emomalij Rahmon , who has held the highest political office in Tajikistan since the 1994 presidential election .
background
The presidential election was an important touchstone for the peace process in Tajikistan. The civil war between 1992 and 1997, which was mainly fought by regional and religious groups, plunged the country into a serious crisis. With a peace treaty in 1997, the United Tajik Opposition (VTO) was promised a 30 percent participation in government and the conflict ended. In addition, a national reconciliation commission was set up to support the peace process. At the end of the civil war, President Rahmon 's People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan and the opposition Islamic Party of Tajikistan Rebirth were the main political parties.
Electoral system
The president of Tajikistan is directly elected by the people in a majority vote. Here, the election winner needs an absolute Mehrhei t of the votes cast. If none of the candidates succeed in this in the first ballot, a runoff election was planned. However, due to the clear result, this option had no political relevance. With regard to the right to vote, the candidate registration process in particular caused controversy in the run-up to the election. In order to be registered by the electoral authorities as a candidate for the presidential election, the signatures of 5% of the citizens entitled to vote, i.e. around 145,000 signatures, were required.
Candidates
In addition to the incumbent Rahmon, only Davlat Usmon from the Islamic Party for the Rebirth of Tajikistan finally stood . A total of three opposition candidates, including Usmon, had previously announced their candidacy, but all of them missed the required number of signatures for registration. On October 7, 1999, the opposition in the Tajik parliament called for the election to be postponed and for opposition candidates to be made easier to register. A postponement of the election was rejected. For this reason, only President Rahmon was registered as a candidate for the presidential election three weeks before the election. The latter announced on October 16 that he regretted the rejection of the candidacies of the three possible opposing candidates and wanted to have any obstacles on the part of the local authorities checked in a court case. In a court ruling on October 21, 1999, Usmon's candidacy was approved despite the lack of signatures; the other two opposition candidates were excluded from the election.
Election campaign
Restrictions on freedom of assembly and expression were made during the election campaign . Most of the state-run media failed to provide neutral reporting and painted a positive image of the incumbent. The Islamic opposition went into the election campaign, weakened by the difficulties with registration and internal conflicts regarding the continuation of the peace process. Due to the short period of time between the final registration of the candidates and the actual election, no real election campaign was possible.
Calls for boycotts
The election campaign and election day itself were overshadowed by calls for a boycott by sections of the opposition. The candidate of the Islamic opposition, Davlat Usmon, announced several times before the election that he would withdraw his candidacy in protest at the obstruction of the opposition by the authorities. In addition to announcing an election boycott, the VTO withdrew from the National Reconciliation Commission. An agreement was reached at a meeting of the chairman of the Islamic Party for the Rebirth of Tajikistan, Said Abdullo Nuri, and President Rahmon on the day before the election. Rahmon assured the opposition that it would take full part in the parliamentary elections in 2000, which in return decided not to boycott the presidential election and resumed work in the National Reconciliation Commission. The uncertainty regarding the participation of the opposition and the short-term solution to this question shaped the election campaign and the political debate in the run-up to the election.
Result
The result of the first ballot was an overwhelming majority for the incumbent Rahmon. The voter turnout was officially given as 98.9%.
| candidate | Votes received | Share of votes cast |
|---|---|---|
| Emomalij Rahmon | 2,749,908 | 97.6% |
| Davlat Usmon | 59,857 | 2.1% |
With this clear election victory, Rahmon was legitimized for a seven-year term until the 2006 presidential election in Tajikistan .
rating
The election was accompanied by around 100 foreign observers from 14 countries. Abroad, the majority of the votes were negative because it did not meet democratic standards and numerous reports of irregularities, including numerous cases of multiple votes, came to light. Human Rights Watch called the election a farce and criticized Tajikistan's lack of progress towards democratization . In a resolution of November 12, 1999, the United Nations Security Council praised the continuation of the peace process in Tajikistan. Domestically, the opposition strongly criticized the election. In particular, the obstruction of opposition candidates and parties was denounced. With regard to the election results, Usmon spoke of election fraud in the Soviet tradition.
Individual evidence
- ↑ BBC News | Asia-Pacific | Tajik elections under threat. Retrieved April 18, 2020 .
- ^ Tajikistan 1991 - present. Retrieved April 18, 2020 (English).
- ↑ BBC News | Asia-Pacific | Tajik president wins second term. Retrieved April 18, 2020 .
- ^ Report of the Secretary-General on the situation in Tajikistan (S / 1999/1127) - Tajikistan. Retrieved April 18, 2020 (English).
- ↑ Nohlen, Dieter., Grotz, Florian., Hartmann, Christof .: Elections in Asia and the Pacific: a data handbook . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001, ISBN 0-19-924958-X , pp. 467 .
- ↑ Human Rights Watch | 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor | New York, NY 10118-3299 USA | t 1.212.290.4700: Presidential Elections in Tajikistan a Farce. October 27, 1999, accessed April 18, 2020 .
- ↑ BBC News | Asia-Pacific | Tajik opposition denounces presidential election. Retrieved April 18, 2020 .
- ↑ United Nations (ed.): Resolutions and Decisions of the Security Council in 1999 . New York 1999, p. 95 .
