Uzbekistan and Tajikistan Week

Uzbekistan Largest population but only third largest state, and large Uzbek minorities in other states Some natural resources – mostly gas ‘Bully boy’ of the region – human rights Threat of Islamic extremism? Geo-strategic games – US versus Russia

Uzbekistan Political System Presidential Republic Islam Karimov and presidential elections Bi-cameral legislature The National Assembly (Oliy Majlis) has 120 members in the Legislative Chamber, elected for a five-year terms and 100 members in the Senate; 84 members elected at the sessions of district, regional and city deputies, and 16 members appointed by the president.

Uzbekistan 26/12/04 and 9/1/05 5 legally registered parties All are pro-presidential All have the description “democratic” in their English name Before a major election, a new pro-presidential party is manufactured and is anointed by the President as his favoured party (1994 PDP, 1999 Fidokorlar, 2004 LDP) LDPU founded on 15 November 2003 and has the slogan “An Enterprising, Courageous, Energetic, Decisive, Practical and Vigilant Person is Better than Thousands of Lazy and Indifferent People’. There were 3 political parties denied registration and thus prevented from contesting the elections. Birlik (“Unity”) is the oldest (1989).

Uzbekistan (Contd.) Campaign was very low key No outdoor rallies allowed Candidates not allowed to organize meetings with voters; meetings with voters and candidates were organized by District Election Commisssion Candidates stressed professional and personal qualities rather than policies Limited funds provided to all parties and parties prohibited from obtaining additional campaign funds Candidate posters were uniform: A3 size with Uzbek flag and state emblem, picture and biography of candidate. (‘ No posters by the political parties or others forms of party-initiated campaigning for the parliamentary elections were observed’ (Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, p. 11) )

Uzbekistan (Contd.) Of 517 registered candidates 476 (92.07%) were Uzbek 109 of the 120 successful candidates (90.83%) were Uzbek Turnout was 85.2% and 80% in 2 rounds Threshold reduced from 50% to 33% % of women rose from 7.2% to 17.5% since 1999 due in large part to new quota of 30% (compare with USSR) Unicameral to bicameral parliament

TAJIKISTAN

Tajikistan Poorest state in the region – extremely mountainous, and most underdeveloped Large scale economic migration of Tajiks to other states, including Russia Legacy of civil war – weak state structures, poor infrastructure Something of a client state to Russia

Tajikistan Political System Presidential republic President both head of state and head of government Multi-party system Legislative power vested in both the president and bi-cameral parliament. Constitutional referendum on 22 June 2003 set a limit of two seven-year terms for the president. Rahmon's election to the office of the president in 2006 counts as his first 7-year term under the 2003 Constitution, and he may therefore remain in office until 2020.

The bicameral Supreme Assembly (Majlisi Oli) includes the 63-seat Assembly of Representatives (Majlisi namoyandagon), which meets year- round (from November through end of June), and the 33-seat National Assembly (Majlisi milli), which meets at least twice per year. The bicameral legislature was introduced in the September 1999 Constitution and prior to that Tajikistan had a unicameral legislature. The members of the Assembly of Representatives are chosen by direct popular election for a five-year term. Of the 63 members of the Assembly of Representatives, 22 are elected by party, in proportion to the number of votes received by each party gaining at least 5 percent of total votes, and the remaining members are elected from single-member constituencies.

In the National Assembly, 75% of the members are chosen by the deputies of the local representative assemblies (majlisi) in the country's four main administrative divisions and in the cities subordinated directly to central government; each of these subnational jurisdictions is entitled to equal representation. The remaining members are appointed directly by the president. People’s Democratic Party continued to control both houses of the parliament after the elections of 2005; that party gained 52 of the 63 seats in the Assembly of Representatives. In 2006, 11 women in the Assembly of Representatives, and 5 in the National Assembly.

Tajikistan 27/2/05 and 13/3/05 Civil war of cast a long shadow over politics in Tajikistan and the pace of political party development dictated by the conflict. In Jan. 1993, following a ban on all opposition parties and movements only 4 parties were allowed to register: The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Communist Party (CP), the Socialist Party, and the Party of Justice. The PDP is the party of President Rakhmonov. Since its formation on 10 Dec 1994, and registration 5 days later (a record) it dominated parliamentary politics in the country. After signing of the 1997 peace accord a new law on political parties adopted in November 1998 allowed an additional 11 parties to be (re)registered. Within a year, however, six of these parties were suspended, banned or deregistered, mainly for alleged technical violations of the procedures for (re)registering.

Tajikistan (Contd) When the United Tajik Opposition (UTO) announced in August 1999 that its armed units were disbanding, the Rakhmonov regime lifted the ban on political parties and movements that were part of the UTO. As a result the Islamic Revival Party (IRP) was allowed to register and is the only legal Islamic party in Central Asia. Like other Central Asian Presidents, Rakhmanov addicted to landslide victories An extensive survey of opinion conducted by IFES shortly before the election revealed that a large majority of the electorate were going to vote in the parliamentary elections despite the fact that most were not aware of the parties, did not know their platforms and were not even familiar with their local parliamentarian

Tajikistan (Contd) Almost three quarters of those questioned said they believed that Tajikistan was a democracy, compared with just 39% eight years earlier 34% felt they had sufficient information to make a wise choice during the elections Only 5% of the population believed that parliament had the greatest influence on the way they lived their lives Shortly before the election an amendment to the election law stated that all candidates had to deposit the equivalent of 200 minimum monthly salaries from their own funds. Forty per cent of this had to be deposited by 1 January 2005 (i.e. two months before the elections) and the remainder thereafter The deposit was only returned to the winning candidate. Legal requirement that candidates have a higher education further restricted the pool of candidates

Tajikistan (Contd) In all, around 100 prospective candidates were not registered, the vast majority of whom were disqualified due to an inability to deposit the necessary sum of money or get what were deemed to be five hundred valid signatures There are no daily newspapers in Tajikistan; most papers are published weekly with the exception of two state-owned titles Television is main source of information but the only channel with nation- wide coverage is state TV. Majority of Tajik citizens receive the Russian channels ORT and RHR but these carry few stories about Tajikistan All but 3 seats decided after the 1 st round of voting on 27 Feb. with official turnout of 92.6%. Opposition parties cried foul and there were threats of protests.

Parliamentary Elections to the Majilisi Namoyandagon 27/2/05 and 13/3/05 Party% of party list vote Party list seatsConstituency Seats (1 st Round) Constituency Seats (2 nd Round) Total Seats PDP CPT IRP DP SP Self-Nominated

2006 Tajikistan presidential election results (6 November) Emomalii Rahmon - People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan 79.3% Olimzon Boboyev - Party of Economic Reform 6.2% Amir Karakulov - Agrarian Party of Tajikistan 5.3% Ismoil Talbakov - Tajik Communist Party 5.1% Abdualim Gafforov - Socialist Party 2.8%