“With less than a month until the elections, the lack of formal guarantees for our observers has made it extremely difficult to carry out the observation mission,” the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) said in a statement.
Elections for the lower house of the Tajik parliament are scheduled for March 2, while elections for the upper house will be held on March 28.
“Although the election observation mission was opened on January 22, the expert team in Dushanbe was unable to begin its work. The lengthy delay in registering observers has significantly impacted the organization of the observation process,” the ODIHR statement added.
