Tajik president fixes dates of parliament elections.

DUSHANBE, December 15 (Itar-Tass) -- Elections to the lower chamber of
the Tajik parliament and local self-government bodies will be held on
February 28, and elections to the chamber of senators - - on March 25. A
corresponding decree was signed by Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, the
press service of the Tajik head of state reports on Tuesday.
The presidential decree is aimed at approving the deputies of the
parliament currently in force. Emomali Rakhmon also offered
parliamentarians to approve a new composition of the Central Electoral
Commission. The president met with the parliamentarians at his city
residence on Monday. Emomali Rakhmon urged future members of the
commission on elections and referendums to secure the honest, objective
and transparent holding of the electoral campaign," a representative of
the press service stressed.
All eight political parties registered in the republic may take part
in the forthcoming parliamentary elections. The overwhelming majority of
deputy seats in the parliament currently in force belongs to
representatives of the presidential People's Democratic Party, four seats
are occupied by communists and two - - by representatives of the Islamic
Party of Revival of Tajikistan . The rest of the parties couldn't overcome
the five-percent barrier.
OSCE has never recognized Tajikistan's parliamentary and presidential
elections corresponding to the international standards of democracy.
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