Brussels, 08/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - During the evening of Thursday 7 November, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton called on the authorities of Tajikistan to fight effectively against the restrictions and irregularities highlighted in the preliminary statement from the OSCE-ODIHR international election observation mission, following the presidential elections on 6 November. According to the mission's preliminary conclusions, “the elections took place peacefully, but restrictive candidate registration requirements resulted in lack of genuine choice and meaningful pluralism”. Regretting that the recommendations made after the 2010 parliamentary elections had not been acted on, Ashton renewed her call “for these recommendations to be fully implemented”.
“The EU stands ready to assist Tajikistan in its efforts to bring the election process into line with OSCE commitments and other international standards for democratic elections”, said Ashton's spokesperson in a press release. Saying that she had followed the presidential elections in Tajikistan closely, “notably the pre-electoral phase and the level of engagement of opposition parties in it”, Ashton recalled that the EU has repeatedly called on Tajikistan “for free, democratic, inclusive and transparent elections” and she stressed the importance of the freedom of media and freedom of speech.
According to the preliminary results, Tajikistan's President Emomali Rahmon has been re-elected with 83.6% of the votes for another mandate of seven years. None of the other five candidates did not manage to garner more than 5% of the votes. The turnout rate was over 80%. (CG/transl.fl)