DUSHANBE, November 8, Asia-Plus -- Democratic practices were not fully tested in the November 6 presidential election in Tajikistan due to the absence of genuine competition, thus providing voters with only nominal choice, concluded the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission in a statement issued Tuesday, November 7.

"The lack of any serious campaign and credible alternatives undermined this election to a degree that it did not provide an adequate test of Tajikistan''s commitment for democratic elections. A range of other shortcomings were also evident in the electoral process," said Kimmo Kiljunen, Head of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Delegation and Special Coordinator of the OSCE short-term observer mission.

Onno van der Wind, Head of the long-term Observation Mission deployed by the OSCE''s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), added: "While this election marks some improvement, there was an insufficient framework for genuine democratic elections, which Tajikistan, as an OSCE participating State, is commited to do.  I call upon the Tajik authorities to implement previous OSCE/ODIHR recommendations that address these issues."

The campaign was almost invisible, with media coverage concentrating on the incumbent in his role as president.  In a welcome initiative all candidates were offered free airtime and print space in state media.  They did not, however, use this opportunity to its full extent.

The statement of preliminary findings and conclusions notes that the media environment is largely under government control.  Pressure on private media outlets and journalists resulted in widespread self-censorship.  The incumbent president and his party received 83 percent coverage on TV Safina and 62 percent on TVT, both state-run TV stations.  This as well as the lack of analytical reporting on the election calls into question the ability of voters to make informed choices.  

The election took place in a peaceful environment and was efficiently administered, according to Onno van der Wind.  “However, observers noted serious shortcomings during polling, including widespread family voting, proxy voting, multiple voting, and identical signatures on voter lists,” he noted. 

Despite training provided to officials, voting and counting procedures were often not followed and the turnout in places was improbably high with 100 percent turnout in several polling stations.

The legal framework and a number of technical aspects of the electoral process require significant improvements.  This includes the requirement to collect signatures of five per cent of the electorate in support of candidacy and lack of transparency in the decision-making process of the highest level of election administration.

The statement notes that the rquirement to collect singnatures from five percent of all registered voters in support of candidacy provides a significant obstacles to standing I the election.  “The six nominees collected a totla of 1.5 million signatures, more than 47 percent of the electrorate.  This casts doubt on the credibility of the signature collection process considering the short timeframe and complex procedures invovled,” said the statement.

The OSCE stands ready to assist the authorities and civil society of Tajikistan to further improve the lelection process, according the statement.

Some 170 international observers from 32 countries observed the voting and counting on behalf of the OSCE/ODIHR and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.