Tajik president applauds March 1 elections
DUSHANBE. March 17 (Interfax) - The March 1 elections to the lower chamber of Tajikistan's parliament were free and met all democratic standards, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon said on Tuesday.
"The elections to the republic's parliament, held on March 1, were democratic, free and transparent," Rahmon was quoted as saying by his press service.
The Tajik leader attended the first session of the country's newly elected parliament. This time, independent Tajik media outlets and foreign journalists accredited in the country have not been invited to the parliamentary session, although in previous years all reporters were allowed to watch parliamentary sessions.
"Many international observers and representatives of international organizations and institutions have recognized the elections to the parliament of Tajikistan as democratic and transparent," the president said.
Electoral monitors representing the CIS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Central Election Commissions of CIS member countries said earlier that the Tajik polls were in line with democratic standards. For their part, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the European Parliament once again criticized the Tajik elections, noting the candidate parties' uneven playing field during the election campaign and a lack of transparency during the vote counting process.
As a result of the latest elections, Rahmon's People's Democratic Party won 51 seats in Tajikistan's 63-member parliament. The remaining 12 seats were distributed between representatives of political forces loyal to the ruling party. The opposition Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan did not receive any parliamentary seats for the first time in the country's modern history.