The Democratic Party of Tajikistan and the Social Democratic Party said after their emergency congresses over the weekend that they would not take part in the November 6 polls, widely predicted to be won by the country's long-standing incumbent president.
"If Imomali Rakhmonov runs, the authorities will be using all levers in his favor, so there is just no point in spending money as the outcome of the election is predetermined," Democratic Party Secretary Rakhmatullo Valiyev said.
The leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, Rakhmatillo Zoirov, said Rakhmonov's "unconstitutional" participation called the vote's legitimacy into question.
Both parties refused to recognize the results of a June 2003 referendum, which entitled the president, ruling the post-Soviet Central Asian country since 1992, to run for another two terms.
The presidential term was extended from 5 to 7 years following a plebiscite in 1999.
"The election process in the country is constrained and built in such a way that it depends on government bodies," Zoirov said.
There are eight registered political parties in Tajikistan, including the ruling People's Democratic Party. Five have already put forward their candidates for the November 6 ballot.
Democratic Party leader Makhmadrouzi Iskandarov, who had planned to run, was last October sentenced to a 23-year prison term on terrorism charges. Many believe his conviction was politically motivated.
