Presidential elections were held in Tajikistan on 6 November 2013.[1] Incumbent President Emomali Rahmon was re-elected with a reported 84% of the vote on a turnout of 86.6%.[2]
In power since 1992, Rahmon was seeking a new term in office, and was widely expected to be re-elected. None of his five opponents, who were "virtual unknowns even inside the country",[3] publicly criticised him, while Oynihol Bobonazarova, a human rights activist generally regarded as the only real opposition candidate was prevented from running,[4] having narrowly failed to obtain sufficient signatures to register as a candidate. Her Islamic Revival Party blamed local authorities for harassing party activists who were seeking to collect signatures.[3]
Electoral system
The President was elected for a seven-year term, with a 50% turnout needed to validate the result. Potential candidates needed to collect 210,000 signatures in order to participate.[5]
Voting centres closed at 22:00 and initial official results were due early the next day.[6]
Campaign
Oynihol Bobonazarova of the Islamic Revival Party withdrew her candidacy on 11 October 2013 after collecting only 202,000 of the 210,000 required.[7] The party claimed this was due to harassment from local authorities during the signature campaign and that it would not take part in the election.[6]
The Social Democratic Party also boycotted the election due to what it said were "violations of the constitution, organised falsifications and a lack of democracy and transparency."[6]
Conduct
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe monitored the elections.[6] It reported "significant shortcomings" in the conduct of the poll, and criticised "restrictive candidate-registration requirements" including an "unreasonably large number of signatures potential candidates must gather to qualify", which it considered "resulted in a lack of pluralism and genuine choice."[8]
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