Reaction to OSCE urging more democracy

A call by Dmitrij Rupel, the head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on Tuesday to improve the electoral process and promote free media in Tajikistan has drawn mixed reaction from the government, opposition and civic groups in the country. Shokirjon Khakimov, deputy head of the Social Democratic Party of Tajikistan (SDPT), one of the main opposition groups, welcomed the call by Europe's largest security body. “The head of the OSCE raised real issues present in Tajik society, particularly those related to the implementation of Tajikistan's commitments to the OSCE,” Khakimov told IRIN in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, on Wednesday. "The main problem the authorities have today is the inconsistency between the laws and their actual implementation," Khakimov added. "In order to attract foreign investment and aid, quite robust laws were adopted. However, the authorities cannot ensure their full implementation, and as an excuse [sense?], Tajik society is not ready to such laws." Rupel, on a tour of Central Asia, said in Dushanbe that a healthy democratic process in the country would require a continued improvement of election legislation, reform and training of those responsible for election administration, as well as increasing the scope of independent media and political party development. "To help address the shortcomings it noted during the 27 February parliamentary elections, the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) is ready to engage in a dialogue with Tajik authorities to identify areas in which technical assistance projects could be developed to promote democratic elections," Rupel said. The OSCE election observation mission concluded that the recent Tajik parliamentary polls fell short of international standards and OSCE commitments. Rano Akhunova, head of the local Women Voters NGO, said improvements to the electoral process were long overdue. Although preparation work for February's parliamentary elections was unprecedented, everything was spoilt on the polling date, she claimed, noting that there had been many violations that government officials had turned a blind eye to. "We learned how to get ready for elections, now we need to learn how to act on the date of polls," she told IRIN. But Mukhibullo Dadajonov, head of the Tajik Central Electoral Commission (CEC), was adamant that the country’s electoral process was more progressive than the OSCE gave it credit for. "Lots of things are being done in Tajikistan to improve the electoral process. During the 27 February elections, apart from the OSCE observing mission, there were international observers from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and some other organisations. Only the OSCE said that our elections fell short of international standards, while the rest gave a positive assessment," he said. As for the role of media and greater freedom of speech in the country, Mahmudkhon Sarayev, a senior information expert at the presidential administration, said that necessary conditions had been created for the media to operate in the former Soviet republic. But he conceded that there were still problems in accessing official information by journalists and the issue of printing facilities for media outlets had not been resolved. "One positive development has been the establishment of a new printing house by a local company, Oila, comprising five weekly papers," he said, adding that Tajik legislators were currently working on a draft law to ensure free access to official information sources.