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