The Central Commission for Elections and Referendums of Tajikistan (CEC) has registered 68 candidates from 6 parties in Tajikistan. According to the commission, 6 political parties submitted 70 candidates. However, two of the five candidates nominated by the Democratic Party of Tajikistan did not pass registration. The exact reason for the registration refusal is still […]
The Central Commission for Elections and Referendums of Tajikistan (CEC) has registered 68 candidates from 6 parties in Tajikistan.
According to the commission, 6 political parties submitted 70 candidates.
However, two of the five candidates nominated by the Democratic Party of Tajikistan did not pass registration. The exact reason for the registration refusal is still unknown.
Currently, the chairman of the Democratic Party of Tajikistan, Saidjafar Usmonzoda, and his deputy, Ahmadshoh Komilzoda, have been sentenced to long prison terms.
It is reported that 28 candidates from the ruling People’s Democratic Party of Tajikistan have been registered, 13 candidates each from the Party of Economic Reforms of Tajikistan and the Agrarian Party of Tajikistan, 5 candidates from the Communist Party of Tajikistan, 3 candidates from the Democratic Party of Tajikistan, and 6 candidates from the Socialist Party of Tajikistan.
Political analysts believe that over the past few years, all parties have changed their leaders several times, presumably due to pressure from the authorities. After this, all these parties have turned into “pocket” parties. They effectively support the ruling party, the PDPT, and are almost absent from the political arena of the country.
At the same time, the Social Democratic Party of Tajikistan — the only officially functioning party in the country considered independent — will not nominate its candidates for the parliamentary elections.
Despite the silence of the party’s chairman, Kiyomidin Azizov, experts note that after the mysterious death of the party’s chairman, Rahmatillo Zoirov, as well as the detention and imprisonment of his deputy, Shokirjon Hakimov, the party has effectively exited the political arena of the country and has become a dependent and weak party.
On March 2, 2025, elections for deputies of the new convocation of the Majlisi Milli and Majlisi Namoyandagon of the Majlisi Oli (upper and lower chambers of parliament) of Tajikistan, as well as for the Majlises of People’s Deputies of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, regions, the city of Dushanbe, cities, and districts will take place.
63 deputies are elected to the lower chamber of parliament: 41 from single-member electoral districts and 22 from party lists in a single nationwide electoral district.
For the first time, the observation mission of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe will not observe the parliamentary elections in Tajikistan in 2025.
The press service of the OSCE reported on February 4 that the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) opened a mission to observe the parliamentary elections in Tajikistan on January 22, 2025; however, the lack of accreditation for international observers from the Tajik authorities led to the cancellation of the observation for the upcoming parliamentary elections.
This is also the second parliamentary election taking place without the participation of the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan.
In 2015, the Supreme Court of Tajikistan declared the opposition and popular Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan a “terrorist organization,” accusing it of “attempting a coup,” and banned its activities in the country.
The opposition movement “Reforms and Development of Tajikistan” stated that the parliamentary elections of 2025 do not meet democratic standards and are illegitimate.
“The upcoming parliamentary elections, scheduled for March 2, 2025, do not represent the expression of the people’s will, but are a pre-scripted process aimed at preserving and legitimizing authoritarian power. In conditions of complete destruction of democratic institutions, lack of political competition, and severe suppression of civil liberties, this farce cannot be recognized as an electoral process in the democratic sense,” the movement’s statement notes.
In its statement, the “Reforms and Development of Tajikistan” movement accused the regime of Emomali Rahmon of systematically eliminating independent political forces and physically liquidating political leaders, using repression, mass killings, arbitrary arrests, and intimidation. Opposition leaders such as Zaid Saidov, Muhammadruzi Iskandarov, Muhammadali Khait, Saidumar Khusayni Izzat Amon, Maksud Ibragimov, Faromuz Ergashov, and Sukhrabi Zafar, as well as thousands of other political figures and activists, have faced brutal persecution, been imprisoned, and tens of thousands have been forced to leave the country, the statement says.
For this reason, the movement is boycotting the parliamentary elections on March 2, 2025.
In its statement, the movement also calls on the people of Tajikistan to “refuse to participate in this spectacle and not become accomplices in a political staging.”
The international community, governments of democratic countries, and international organizations should condemn this fictitious process and not recognize its results, the movement’s statement emphasizes.
Other opposition parties and movements have not yet responded to the parliamentary elections.