Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union on the presidential election in Tajikistan on 6 November 2006

Press release 461/2006
14 November, 2006

The European Union has taken note of the preliminary findings of the OSCE Election Observation Mission for the presidential election in Tajikistan.

The European Union is pleased to note that the elections took place in a peaceful environment and that the OSCE stated that some improvements have been made since the last elections. The EU furthermore welcomes the fact that the OSCE Election Observation Mission could, by and large, perform its duties in an unrestricted way.

However, the European Union regrets that the elections did not fully meet the OSCE commitments and other international standards for democratic elections. The European Union notes with regret that despite the presence of five candidates the presidential elections lacked meaningful political competition.

Moreover, the European Union calls upon Tajikistan to further improve the legal framework for presidential elections in order to meet its OSCE commitments.

The Acceding Countries Bulgaria and Romania, the Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this declaration.

* Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process