EU Presidency declaration on the parliamentary elections in Tajikistan

The European Union notes the preliminary findings of the OSCE/ODIHR election observer mission concerning the parliamentary elections in Tajikistan on 27 February 2005. Some Member States sent observers to take part in that mission. The European Union welcomes the peaceful way in which the elections were held.

The EU endorses the OSCE/ODIHR mission's preliminary conclusions that the elections failed to meet many key OSCE commitments and other international standards for democratic elections. A number of significant breaches of electoral legislation were observed, particularly in proxy voting as well as personation and failure to produce identity papers when signing election documents. Observers were obstructed in their work and procedural irregularities were found in the counting of votes.

In the run-up to the elections, too, the EU could see that the composition of district electoral commissions was politically unbalanced and that a number of non-government candidates were removed from election lists. The EU also noticed difficulties in gaining access to public media for non-government parties and restrictions imposed on the independent press, which adversely affected political parties' ability to campaign and the information available to Tajik voters on the options before them in the elections.

The EU calls on the government of Tajikistan to continue with democratic reform and is ready to assist the Tajik authorities in meeting the international standards to which the country aspires. The EU reiterates its willingness to work with Tajikistan in promoting and putting into practice OSCE values and principles, on a basis of mutual trust.

The Acceding Countries Bulgaria and Romania, the Candidate Countries Turkey and Croatia[1], the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, align themselves with this declaration.

[1] Croatia continues to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.

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