DUSHANBE, November 4, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- The Communist Party (CPT) intends to hold an extraordinary congress in the second part of December to discuss the party platform at the upcoming parliamentary elections due n February 2010, the CPT leader Shodi Shabdolov said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

According to him, the congress will consider and approve the list of the CPT candidates who will be put on the party list.  “Our party list will include members of the CPT only, because we have excellent candidates; among them are lawyers, economists, fanciers and representatives of other specialties,” Shabdolov said.

He added that the Communist party could support worthy independent candidates that would run for a seat in the parliament in single-mandate constituencies.

The Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) has 63 members, who are directly elected for a period of 5 years.  22 are elected through a proportional, party list system from a single, countrywide constituency.  To win seats, parties must pass a five percent threshold.  The remaining 41 members are elected from single-mandate constituencies under a majoritarian system.  In the single-mandate constituencies, candidates must win an absolute majority of votes to be elected.  If none of the contestants manages to win an absolute majority during the first round, a second round of voting is held between the two leading candidates two weeks later.  For any of the elections to be valid, there must be at least a 50% voter turnout.