17 November 2006
STATE'S IRON GRIP OVER MEDIA COMPROMISES ELECTION
Unequal access to state media and the repression of opposition and independent news sources undermined the fairness of Tajikistan's presidential election, say Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontieres, RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
President Imomali Rakhmonov was re-elected for a third term on 6 November 2006, with a reported 74.6 percent of the vote. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) says the electoral process, which leading opposition parties boycotted, did not meet democratic standards.
State-controlled television, the main source of news and information in Tajikistan, covered Rakhmonov's campaign extensively and uncritically. In contrast, other candidates were "practically invisible in most areas" of the country, according to the OSCE. Electoral regulations specify that each candidate should receive 30 minutes of airtime on national TV during the campaign, but in practice, opposition candidates only received between five and 15 minutes, says RSF.
At least four opposition and independent newspapers have been forced to stop publishing in the past two years. A small number of independent newspapers still operate, but most have limited circulation. Meanwhile, in October, the Ministry of Communications blocked access to five popular, independent news websites published abroad.
No foreign broadcasts are available through terrestrial television or FM radio. In January 2006, government regulators suspended the BBC's FM broadcasts and, in July, formally denied the BBC an FM licence. The last independent TV station was shut down in May 2005.
Visit these links:
- CPJ: http://www.cpj.org/news/2006/europe/tajik03nov06na.html
- RSF: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=19613
- Human Rights Watch Backgrounder: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/18/tajiki12243.htm
- OSCE Election Observation Mission: http://www.osce.org/documents/odihr/2006/11/21981_en.pdf
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