DUSHANBE, February 5, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- The formal opening of the CIS election observation mission for the February 28 parliamentary elections in Tajikistan was held at the Kokhi Vahdat State Complex in Dushanbe on February 4.

Muhibullo Dadajonov, a spokesman for Tajikistan’s Central Commission for Referenda and Elections (CCER), said that the election observation mission is headed by Yevgeny Sloboda, an official with the CIS Executive Committee.

“A group of observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will arrive in Dushanbe next week,” Dadajonov said.

According to the CCER, some 540-550 international observers from the CIS, SCO and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) are expected to monitor the election process in Tajikistan.