DUSHANBE, April 11, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- Following refusal by the Islamic Revival Party (IRP) candidate to register for the upcoming parliamentary by-election, the Central Commission for Elections and Referenda (CCER) has sent a letter to IRP’s political council calling on the party to observe the country’s election legislation.

Since Said Ibrohim Nazar was nominated by IRP’s organization in Dushanbe’s Sino district, the refusal of registration must come from IRP’s organization in Sino district, the CCER representative noted.  “Candidate himself cannot refuse the registration without written consent of a conference of the party organization that has nominated him for the by-election,” he noted.

We will recall that electoral commission for Dushanbe’s constituency # 4 on April 5 registered four candidates for the upcoming parliamentary by-election.  Among them are Amirqul Azimov nominated by the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDPT), Muzaffar Mirzoyev nominated by the Agrarian Party (APT) and two self-propelled candidates -- Tolibshoh Saidzoda, editor-in-chief of the Dushanbe weekly Millat (Nation), and Safarbek Mannonov, deputy director of the National Medical Center.

In the meantime, the Islamic Revival Party (IRP) candidate Said Ibrohim Nazar has refused to register for the by-election because the IRP is not represented in polling stations.

The CCER officials say that under the country’s election legislation, representatives of political parties cannot be members of the polling stations; they just may attend the poling stations as observers.  According to them, Said Ibrohim Nazar ran for a seat in the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) in Kulob’s constituency in 2005.  At that time, at first Said Ibrohim Nazar also refused to register for the same reason but he then changed his mind.

The by-election will be held on May 15 following appointment of Shermuhammad Shohiyon who formerly represented Dushanbe’s constituency # 4 in the Majlisi Namoyandagon as the CCER chairman.

Dushanbe’s constituency # 4 reportedly numbers some 70,000 voters and 48 polling stations are expected to be set up in the constituency.