Political parties have nominated 89 candidates to run for 41 seats in the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) in single-mandate constituencies.

According to the Central Commission for Elections and Referenda (CCER), the People’s Democratic Party of Tajikistan (PDPT) has nominated 41 candidates to run for parliament in single-mandate constituencies, the Agrarian Party of Tajikistan (APT) has nominated 29 candidates, the Socialist Party of Tajikistan (SPT) and the Communist Party of Tajikistan (CPT) – 4 candidates each, and the Party of Economic Reforms of Tajikistan (PERT) – 11 candidates.            

The Social-Democratic Party of Tajikistan (SDPT) and the Democratic Party of Tajikistan (DPT) have not nominated their candidates to run for parliament in the single-mandate constituencies.    

Candidates running for parliament in the single-mandate constituencies should be registered with the Commission for elections and Referenda until February 9. 

Recall, the CCER endorsed lists of candidates nominated by political parties on their nationwide lists on January 18.

In all, political parties have nominated 74 candidates for 22 seats in the Majlisi Namoyandagon.  

Members of the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) are directly elected for a five-year term according to a mixed majoritarian-proportional system. Of the 63 MPs, 41 are elected from single-mandate districts, with the winning candidate requiring a majority of votes cast. If no candidate receives a majority, a second round is held within two weeks between the two leading candidates.  More than 50 per cent of registered voters must participate for the election to be valid; otherwise, repeat elections must be held. 

The other 22 MPs are elected from a single nationwide district under a proportional, closed-list system with a five percent threshold.

Candidates could be nominated by a political party on its nationwide list and/or in a single-mandate district.  Candidates are required to submit a financial deposit of 4,000 somoni.  

Self-nominated candidates could only stand in single-mandate districts. They had to fulfill the same requirements as party-nominated candidates and submit at least 500 signatures of voters resident in that district. 

Every Tajik citizen who is at least 18 on election day is entitled to vote, unless serving a term in prison or having been declared incapable by court decision.

Every Tajik citizen, at least aged 25 and eligible to vote, may stand as candidate for deputy of the Majlisi Namoyandagon if he/she knows the state language, has been citizen of the country for a minimum of ten years and has a higher education.

Recall, parliamentary elections will take place in Tajikistan on March 1, 2020.