Democrats Fall Apart

The Democratic Party of Tajikistan, DPT, seems to be spending as much time on internal battles as on campaigning for the upcoming presidential election.



The DPT, one of the country’s three major opposition parties, has split into two rival camps just one month before a convention which is supposed to name a candidate for November’s presidential ballot.



One wing of the party gathered on August 27 and elected as its leader Masud Sobirov, who formerly spearheaded a drive to create an internal faction, Watan, within the Democrats. Sobirov and Saidjaffar Ismonov, who was elected his deputy, have been demanding a change in the DPT leadership for some time.



The other wing of the DPT says the meeting lacked legitimacy and is refusing to recognise the decisions made there. They allege interference from outside, hinting that the Tajik president’s party, the People’s Democratic Party of Tajikistan, PDPT, may have had a hand in sowing dissension and citing as evidence Ismonov’s membership of the latter party until last year.



However, political analysts say that if there was such a move, it was not a coordinated effort by the PDPT, but the action of a few rogue members. They argue that the president’s party would have no reason to try to put pressure on the DPT, since it is not a real contender for power. Moreover, any such initiative could damage the president’s image in the eyes of the international community.



Analysts are inclined to blame the split on the lack of a real leader in the DPT. In the absence of a unifying figure, individuals have indulged their own ambitions and sacrificed the party’s interests in their drive for power. This will become apparent, say observers, when one of the sides in the current battle emerges as the winner, but nd makes no significant changes to the party’s policies.



The Ministry of Justice, which is responsible for registering political parties, has refrained from intervening in the conflict. It says the DPT leader it recognises is Mahmudruzi Iskandarov, who was elected head of the party 16 years ago. However, Iskandarov is in prison serving a 23-year sentence for terrorism and embezzlement.



The party’s internal strife will most likely continue until September 30, the date of the national convention. Much will depend on whether the two sides are willing to seek a compromise.



The question observers are asking themselves is whether a charismatic figure could yet emerge and over time, grow to the stature of Iskandarov and bring the two sides together before they destroy the party completely.



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