DUSHANBE, March 3, 2010, Asia-Plus – Tajik parliament deputy Sayvali Nourov has lost his bid for reelection to his father-in-law and could be charged with assaulting an election official, RFE/RL''s Tajik Service reported on March 2.

Nourov, a former administrator in the Vakhsh district of Tajikistan''s southern Khatlon Province, was defeated in his bid for reelection by former Transportation Minister Abdujalol Salimov, his father-in-law.

Both are members of the ruling People’s Democratic Party of Tajikistan, which backed Salimov -- the former head of Khatlon Province -- over the incumbent Nourov.

Nourov had predicted on the eve of the election that the ruling party would do everything to ensure his defeat because he had challenged some of its policies.

Ghoib Khojanazarov, the head of a polling station in Vakhsh, told RFE/RL that Nourov assaulted him on February 28 in front of several people after he let an elderly man cast a ballot on behalf of his sick wife.

Nourov confirmed that he saw the old man vote more than once and reported it as a violation of election rules. But he denied punching Khojanazarov.

Vakhsh district prosecutor Umed Karimov said an investigation of the incident has begun.