No one expects changes in a country ruled by the same party for the past 17 years, with 50 seats out of 63 in the outgoing lower house. Opposition parties complain about irregularities, but the election commission has already declared the vote valid. The OSCE remains cautious.

Dushanbe (AsiaNews/Agencies) – President Emomali Rakhmon's People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan claimed victory in yesterday’s elections to the lower house, the Assembly of Representatives (Majlis Namoyandagon). Opposition parties have complained about major irregularities.

Rahmatillo Zoirov, the head of opposition Social Democratic Party of Tajikistan, complained that in Dushanbe, his party's observers were made to sit in corners of the polling stations and were unable to keep an eye on the process. In some polling stations, there were cases of multiple voting. In others, voters were unable to cast their ballot because upon arriving they discovered that somebody else had voted for them.

President Rakhmon has ruled the former Soviet republic for the past 17 years. In the outgoing parliament, his party held 50 seats out of 63.

At present, the country is going through a major economic crisis; half of the workforce has left the country, primarily for Russia. But even there, they are facing the prospect of layoffs.

Despite growing dissatisfaction, no one expects any change to come from this election. The only new element is the candidacy of Rustami Emomali, the president’s 23-year-son and heir-designate, who is using the vote to launch his political career.

The Communist Party and the Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP) are the main opposition parties, but the held a small number of seats in the outgoing assembly.

IRP leader Muhiddin Kabiri complained about “numerous irregularities" during the voting, including “multiple voting, voting for family members and hindering the work of our observers by elections officials”.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) deployed 200 monitors to observe the election, but has not yet issued its evaluation on the vote. However, in a report ahead of the vote, it expressed concern about police interference and the use of public resources by the ruling party in the election.

By contrast, President Rakhmon announced, “From the point view of improvement of the international image of Tajikistan,” the election was “more transparent, freer and more democratic”.

The Central Election Commission declared the vote valid after more than half of 3.5 million eligible voters had cast their votes.

Mukhibullo Dajanov, a senior commission official, said, “There are reports of irregularities but not on a mass scale”.

• tajikistan
• parliamentary
• lower
• house
• elections
• emomali
• takhmon
• rustam
• irregularities