OSCE on referendum in Tajikistan

Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) welcomes the peaceful outcome of the referendum, held last Sunday in Tajikistan, but points out to insignificant drawbacks in the election system of the country.

This is said in the official statement of the OSCE Office For Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the OSCE centre in Dushanbe, published by the OSCE Vienna-based secretariat.

The OSCE believes the referendum in Tajikistan will make a great contribution to the stabilisation of the situation in the country, development of parliamentarism and giving equal rights for government structures and opposition forces to participate in the elections.

Out of 120 amendments proposed for the referendum, the main one is to prolong the time-limit of the president's powers to 7 years, while the incumbent president, Emomali Rakhmonov receives the possibility to retain his post till 2020.