DUSHANBE, July 8, 2008, Asia-Plus  -- On Monday July 7, Mr. Muhiddin Kabiri, the leader of the Islamic Revival Party (IRPT), met with Mr. Tigran Karapetyan, an expert from the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES).

Hikmatullo Sayfullozoda, a spokesman for the IRPT, preparations for the upcoming parliamentary elections in Tajikistan were a focus of the meeting. 

“The IFES expert welcomed an active participation of our party in development of proposals on making changes and addenda to the country’s parliamentary election legislation,” the spokesman said.      

            According to him, during the meeting, Kabiri noted that the IRPT had prepared its version of a bill requiring amendments to the parliamentary election legislation; however, an alternative draft law on amendments to the parliamentary election legislation worked out by the IFES specialists suits the party and it would be ready to give up its bill and promote the draft law prepared by the IFES specialists.       

We will recall that the working group for discussing amendments to the parliamentary election legislation held five meetings to discuss amendments proposed to the parliamentary election legislation.  The meetings were held within the framework of the IFES project to support credible elections in Tajikistan.      

IFES is the world’s premiere election assistance organization, providing countries with technical advice and tools to run democratic elections. IFES is an international, nonpartisan democracy development organization that works to give people a voice in the way they are governed.

Every IFES project is staffed by local personnel and partnered with local organizations. With this homegrown approach, IFES ensures the expertise it offers fits the needs of the country or client and the benefit of assistance outlasts the life of the project.