DUSHANBE, July 1, 2013, Asia-Plus -- The Democratic Party of Tajikistan (DPT) has not yet decided on a candidate for running in the presidential election due in November this year, DPT leader Saidjaffar Ismonov told Asia-Plus Monday afternoon.

According to Ismonov, his party is currently considering various ways of its participation in the upcoming presidential election.

“A decision on supporting one or another candidate will be made at the party congress that will take place after the announcement of the election date,” Ismonov said.

He further added that the DPT would hold its regional conferences in Khatlon and Gorno Badakhshan in the near future to consider the intraparty party issues.

Saidjaffar Ismonov was elected as chairman of the party at an extraordinary congress that took place in Dushanbe on December 23, 2012.

We will recall that Democrats in Sughd province and Gorno Badakhshan as well as some primary organizations of the party in other regions of the country did not recognize Masoud Sobirov as the party leader.  They demanded convocation of the extraordinary congress of the party.

The Democratic Party of Tajikistan can trace its origins back to the last days of the Soviet Union.  Registered on June 21, 1991 and banned by the Supreme Court on June 21, 1993, the Democratic Party of Tajikistan was reregistered on December 3, 1999.

At the end of 1990s, two factions laid claim to the Democratic Party of Tajikistan: the Almaty platform led by Mahmadruzi Iskandarov and the Tehran platform run by Azam Afzali.  The Tehran platform later transformed itself into the Taraqqiyot (Progress) Party.

On October 5, 2005, the Supreme Court sentenced DPT leader Mahmadruzi Iskandarov to 23 years in prison.  The sentence followed his conviction on charges of terrorism, the embezzlement of state funds, and the illegal storage of weapons, though his supporters say he was jailed for political motives.

The party split into two factions again and the Ministry of Justice recognized Masoud Sobirov as the legitimate leader of the Democratic Party of Tajikistan in October 2006.