All Quiet on the Election Front

Five candidates have now officially registered for the November presidential election in Tajikistan, but less than a month before the ballot in Tajikistan, no one has started campaigning. NBCentralAsia commentators predict that when the election race does get under way, it will be free of controversy and will not affect what appears to be a foregone conclusion.



On October 9, the Central Electoral Committee, CEC, approved the incumbent Imomali Rahmonov, nominated by the governing People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Ismail Talbakov from the Communist Party and Olimjon Boboev of the Economic Reforms Party. Two days later, the only other candidates standing were formally registered – Abduhalim Gafforov, representing one wing of the Socialist Party, and Amirkul Karakulov of the Agrarian Party.



NBCentralAsia analysts expect the PDP to put up the best campaign, since it alone has the resources and mechanisms at its disposal.



Zafar Saidov, the director of the state-run Khovar news agency, says the ongoing media coverage of President Rahmonov’s official activities amounts to an election campaign in itself, quite apart from the one his supporters will mount.



Saifullo Safarov, deputy director of the Centre for Strategic Studies, sees Talbakov as the only other real contender. The Communist Party which Talbakov leads is reasonably well resourced, and has a constituency among older voters who account for a quarter of the electorate.



Now that they are registered, the candidates together with their election agents and campaign staff are allowed to go on the election trail, meeting voters, talking to the media, and distributing their literature.



The CEC allows every presidential candidate 30 minutes airtime on national radio and TV, and their campaign teams get another ten minutes free of charge. They are also allowed to publish campaign materials in the government newspapers Jumhuriyat, Narodnaya Gazeta and Halq Ovozi (in Tajik, Russian and Uzbek, respectively).



According to Abdurahmon Abdumannonov, who heads the CEC’s press office, none of the candidates has expressed a desire to speak on television. Nor has anyone taken advantage of the free newspaper space.



It has to be assumed that the candidates will get going closer to the November 6 poll date. For the moment, they are confining themselves to consulting their campaign teams to come up with a strategy.



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)