FOUR WEEKS OUT: POLITICAL PARTY FACTION BRIBES MINISTRY OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 001863 SIPDIS SIPDIS NSC FOR MERKEL; STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/11/2016 TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM TI SUBJECT: FOUR WEEKS OUT: POLITICAL PARTY FACTION BRIBES MINISTRY OF JUSTICE; MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS REF: A) DUSHANBE 1773 B) DUSHANBE 1848 CLASSIFIED BY: Tom Hushek, CdA, U.S. Embassy, Dushanbe, State. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (SBU) Four weeks out from the November 6 presidential election, five candidates have successfully registered candidate. Opposition political parties are weaker than ever, as a faction of the Democratic Party has won government approval. The government ordered internet providers to block news websites in an attempt to prevent content that "undermines the policy of the state in the information sphere, inciting social, racial and religious hatred and enmity." (Reftel B) A RIFT IN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY GETS WIDER ¶2. (SBU) The Ministry of Justice registered Vatan, a breakaway faction of the Democratic Party of Tajikistan (DPT) as the official party September 30, recognizing Masoud Sobirov as the DPT's chairman. According to the party's charter, if ten percent of the party supports a faction, an extraordinary summit can be convened. Sobirov had convoked a summit August 27 and again September 17. The Central Committee on Elections and Referenda originally refused to recognize the Vatan faction, but reversed itself after the Ministry of Justice upheld Vatan's right to convoke a summit according to the DPT charter. ¶3. (C) The original Democratic Party of Tajikistan, headed by imprisoned chairman Mahmadruzi Iskandarov, but led by Rahmahtullo Valiev, threatened to apply to the Dushanbe mayor's office for permission to hold a demonstration. However, no action was taken. (COMMENT: The mayor's office was unlikely to grant the party permission to demonstrate, given the widely-held belief that political demonstrations started the Tajik Civil War. END COMMENT.) A close Embassy source reported a Vatan official directly confessed that the faction bribed Ministry of Justice officials into registering the party. Prior to the bribe, the Ministry of Justice had denied Vatan registration after a scandal that revealed Vatan had submitted false signatures for registration. ¶4. (SBU) The Ministry of Justice's blessing of Vatan permitted the Central Commission on Elections and Referenda (CCER) to attempt to register Vatan's candidate, Tavarali Ziyoyev, in the presidential election even though this came after the deadline for nominating candidates as outlined in the constitution. However, Vatan failed to gather the required 160,000 signatures by October 6 to get Ziyoyev's name on the ballot. Valiev and the original DPT planned to boycott the election by not fielding a presidential candidate. ¶5. (C) Tajik Foreign Minister Talbak Nazarov, at an October 6 reception in honor of Assistant Secretary Richard Boucher, called the problems in the DPT "infighting" and noted it was not the government's role to decide which faction was legitimate. Boucher pointed out that the Tajik government had indeed legitimized Vatan when the Ministry of Justice and CCER registered the faction. "The MoJ is not the government," protested Nazarov. To his puzzled counterparts, Nazarov explained that MoJ's decision was "independent" and not the position of the Rahmonov administration. FIVE NAMES, BUT ONLY ONE REAL CANDIDATE ¶6. (C) The Central Commission on Elections and Referenda announced five candidates October 11: President Emomali Rahmonov, People's Democratic Party; Ismoil Talbakov, Communist Party; Olimjon Boboyev, Party of Economic Reforms; Abduhalim Ghafforov, Socialist Party, and Amir Qaraqulov, Agrarian Party. The four challengers represent parties known to support Rahmonov's administration and policies. COMMENT ¶7. (SBU) The decision to register Vatan represents one more example of the government's systematic efforts to weaken the extremely limited opposition and ensure that nothing stands in the way of a total victory for Rahmonov. The Democratic Party posed no threat, but the government likely engineered the split DUSHANBE 00001863 002 OF 002 in order to further reduce the DPT's ability to boycott the election by allowing the faction to field a candidate under the DPT name. Nazarov's claim that the MoJ did not represent the government suggests the presidential administration feel little accountability for certain government ministries. ¶8. (SBU) Despite Rahmonov's assurances to Boucher that the opposition candidates would have access to the media, the government is taking no chances with any independent commentary or information reaching the voters prior to November 6. The censorship of the websites and the legitimization of Vatan show that while the government talks about transparent elections, their words have not resulted in more choice for the electorate. END COMMENT. HUSHEK