Parliamentary elections start in Tajikistan.

DUSHANBE, February 28 (Itar-Tass) -- Elections to the lower parliament
house started in Tajikistan on Sunday.

A total of 3031 polling station
were opened across the country, including at frontier outposts and
pastures in the mountains, at 06:00 a.m. local time (04:00 a.m. Moscow
time) and another 36 stations will be opened at Tajikistan's diplomatic
missions abroad, head of the country's Central Election Commission (CEC)
Mirzoali Boltuev told Itar-Tass.

According to Boltuev, the Tajik voters will choose among 217
contenders for 63 parliamentary seats. The majority of candidates
represent eight leading political parties - the People's Democratic Party,
led by President Emomali Rakhmon, the Party of Islamic Revival of
Tajikistan, the Communist, Democratic, Social Democratic, Socialist,
Agrarian Parties, and the Party of Economic Reforms. The parties' programs
were published in local media, while core provisions were voiced by party
leaders in their TV and radio addresses.
Under the local election laws, elections will be announced valid if
attended by more than 50 percent of voters, Boltuev said, adding that "the
Central Election Commission expects to achieve these results by the
afternoon." He also said that some citizen, including shift personnel
working on the construction of the Rogunskaya hydro electric plant and
border guards at remote outposts, had already cast their votes. Sealed
ballot boxes were transported to Dushanbe and will be unsealed after 20:00
local time.
The voter lists include 3.5 million names. All polling stations are
equipped with transparent boxes manufactured in China under a special
order of the Central Election Commission.
"The CEC doors will be opened throughout the day for observers and
reporters, both accredited and not," said CEC deputy head Mukhibullo
Dadadzhanov. According to Dadadzhanov, the CEC press centre will announce
election turnout every two hours. Preliminary results will be announced in
the morning on March 1.
A total of 532 observers from more than 15 countries, the OSCE, CIS,
Shanghai Cooperation Organization, European Union, and over 2,000
representatives of political parties and public organizations will monitor
the election procedure.
According to preliminary estimates by observers from the CIS, the
Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Russian State Duma, no serious
violations were reported during the election campaign, which was basically
in line with the national election laws. Meanwhile, in their two
preliminary reports, experts from the OSCE Office for Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights criticized the Central Election Commission
for "lack of transparency", and local media for poor footage of the
campaign. The OSCE ODIHR mission said it would present a more detailed
report on March 1. In his connection, the CEC head noted that "Western
observers have never recognized any elections in independent Tajikistan as
meeting the democratic standards."
On Saturday, the Tajik president called on voters to make "an
important choice and vote for worthy representatives of the people."
"The government will work with those political forces, representatives
of which will be elected by our people," he stressed.
-0-ras