DUSHANBE, October 23, 2014, Asia-Plus -- The Communist Party of Tajikistan (CPT) has got researchers, political scientists and experts involved in the work on preparing its election program.

“Our election program will contain a separate chapter explaining Communists’ position on various types of property,” CPT Secretary Ismoil Talbakov told Asia-Plus in an interview. 

According to him, the CPT will continue to insist on abolishing electoral deposit, including representatives of political parties in Precinct Election Commission (PECs) and partially financing political parties in the future as well irrespective of the results of the 2015 parliamentary elections due in late February.

“An extraordinary congress of the party that will take place in Dushanbe on December 27 congress will determine a party list of candidates for the 2015 parliamentary elections and party’s representatives that will run in single-mandate constituencies,” said Talbakov.  “According to the preliminary figures, we need at least 400,000 somoni to participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections.”

“Electoral deposit of 4,000 somoni is required from each candidate for the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) and by the party board’s decision an election fund has been set up to support candidates for the Majlisi Namoyandagon, and to-date, more than 5,500 somoni have come into the fund’s account,” Talbakov noted.

Founded in 1918, the Communist Party of Tajikistan was registered in 1991.  According to some sources, the party now has more than 45,000 members.  Shodi Shabdolov is leader of the party.