Tajik Social Democratic leader accuses authorities of barring opposition from parliament
DUSHANBE. March 11 (Interfax) - The Tajik authorities have made a political and ideological mistake by banning the opposition from taking part in the country's main legislative body elected by the republic on March 1, says Rahmatullo Zoirov, the leader of the opposition Social Democratic Party.
The authorities have thereby taken the whole responsibility for what is happening in the country upon themselves, says the long-time opponent of the incumbent president, Emomali Rahmon.
"The government and the NDPT (the People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan) have made a political and ideological mistake. It is not the state, nor the society, but the government who made the mistake by banning the opposition from taking part in the national parliament as the only democratic body in this country," Zoirov said.
"Barring the opposition from parliament, which involves barring it from participation in running national affairs, means that the current government is taking the whole responsibility for the domestic situation solely upon itself," Zoirov said in a statement posted on his social media pages on Wednesday.
Zoirov is well-known as a long-time opponent of President Rahmon, in office for the past 22 years, whom he accused of illegitimacy on several occasions.
On March 1, Tajikistan held general elections to the national parliament's lower house and to local assemblies. Neither the Social Democratic Party, nor the Islamic Revival Party - the only ones seen by experts as political opposition - won a single seat in the national parliament.
Rahmon's People's Democratic Party won 51 out of the 63 seats in the new parliament. The Agrarian Party, which gained the minimum five seats, will be able to set up a faction for the first time in the history of independent Tajikistan. It is also the first time that the Islamic Revival Party failed to win a single seat in the lower house.
Three seats were won by the Party of Economic Reform, two by Communists, one by Socialists and one by Democrats. The latter two entered the parliament for the first time in their history.
