Elections to Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament (Majlisi Namoyandagon) took place on March 2. The elections were declared valid.
Khovar news agency reports that according to the Central Commission for Elections and Referenda (CCER) of Tajikistan, by 12:00, voter turnout in the country had already reached 59%. Elections are considered valid if more than 50% of voters participate.
The CCER stated that no complaints, statements, or appeals were received during the voting process.
President Emomali Rahmon cast his vote at polling station No. 15 in electoral district No. 23 in Dushanbe’s Ismoili Somoni district.
His son Rustam Emomali, who is the Speaker of the Majlisi Milli (Tajikistan’s upper chamber of parliament) also Mayor of Dushanbe, also voted at the same polling station.
For the parliamentary elections 41 single-mandate constituencies and 3,513 polling stations were established in Tajikistan. Additionally, 36 polling stations operated in 28 countries worldwide.
Polling stations across the country were open from 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM, after which precinct commissions began counting votes. The preliminary results of the parliamentary elections will be announced on March 3 at 10:00 AM in the National Library of Tajikistan.
It is worth noting that Tajikistan does not practice exit polls (the procedure of surveying voters as they leave polling stations to predict election results) due to low electoral competition and a lack of intrigue in the election process.
Who observed the elections?
The elections were monitored by observers from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), totaling around 230 people. The CIS observer mission included representatives from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS (IPA CIS), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and the CIS Executive Committee.
CIS observers traditionally gave high marks to the organization of the elections and the voting process, stating that they were conducted "openly and transparently."
"All necessary conditions were ensured, and everything related to election preparation was organized at a very high level," Dmitry Kobitsky, Secretary-General of the IPA CIS Council said.
According to Alexey Sandykov, a member of Armenia’s National Assembly who participated in monitoring the elections in Tajikistan, voter turnout at polling stations was notably high.
For the first time, these elections took place without the participation of the observer mission from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR/OSCE) and independent media.
ODIHR stated on February 4 that the lack of assurance by the authorities of Tajikistan that international observers will be accredited “has regrettably made it necessary to cancel the observation of the country’s forthcoming parliamentary elections.”
Several media outlets, including Radio Liberty’s and the BBC, were denied the right to cover the voting process on election day. According to the CCER, they were denied the right to cover the election process due the failure to meet the application deadline.
Election process and candidates
The 63 members of the Majlisi Namoyandagon are elected by two methods: 41 members are elected in single-member constituencies using the two-round system, whilst 22 seats are elected by proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency, with an electoral threshold of 5%. Voters cast a single ballot for a candidate in their single-member constituency, with the total votes received across all constituencies used to determine the proportional seats. In each constituency, voter turnout is required to be at least 50% for the election to be declared valid.
According to data from the Central Election Commission, candidates were nominated by six out of seven political parties officially participating in the country, with the exception of the Social-Democratic Party of Tajikistan (SDPT).
A total of 220 candidates competed for 63 parliamentary seats, including 152 candidates running in the 41 single-mandate constituencies, of whom 65 were registered as independent candidates.
Another 68 candidates were nominated by six political parties through the nationwide constituency.
In 2020, the parliamentary elections were held on March 1 and the voter turnout was reportedly more than 86 percent.
The ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDPT) won parliamentary elections. 50.4 percent of the ballots cast supported the ruling People's Democratic Party, securing 47 seats in the 63-seat Majlisi Namoyandagon.
The Agrarian Party (APT), the Party of Economic Reforms (PER), the Socialist Party (SPT) and the Democratic Party (DPT) also won seats in the lower house of parliament.
The Agrarian Party secured 7 seats, the Party of Economic Reforms won five, and the Communist Party got two seats in the Majlisi Namoyandagon.
The Democratic Party and the Socialist Party got one seat each by the party lists.
All of these parties support the government, and independent experts argue that they will not have a significant impact on the country's political landscape.
The Social Democratic Party of Tajikistan (SDPT), previously considered one of the opposition parties, has never had representation in parliament.
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