2013 Tajik presidential election

6 November 2013
Turnout86.64%
 
Nominee Emomali Rahmon Ismoil Talbakov
Party PDP Communist
Popular vote 3,023,754 181,675
Percentage 83.92% 5.04%

Results by district

President before election

Emomali Rahmon
PDP

Elected President

Emomali Rahmon
PDP

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]

Results

CandidatePartyVotes%
Emomali RahmonPeople's Democratic Party3,023,75483.92
Ismoil TalbakovCommunist Party181,6755.04
Talibek BuhariyevAgrarian Party166,2244.61
Olimzhon BoboyevParty of Economic Reforms140,7333.91
Abduhalim GhafforovSocialist Party54,1481.50
Saidjafar IsmanovDemocratic Party36,5731.02
Total3,603,107100.00
Valid votes3,603,10798.98
Invalid/blank votes36,9491.02
Total votes3,640,056100.00
Registered voters/turnout4,201,15686.64
Source: IFES

References

  1. "Volatile Tajikistan sets presidential election for November 6" Reuters, 30 August 2013
  2. Tajik strongman wins over 83pc in 'no choice' poll The Nation, 8 November 2013
  3. 1 2 Tajikistan holds presidential election Al Jazeera, 6 November 2013
  4. Tajik President Rakhmon set to win another term BBC News, 6 November 2013
  5. Presidential candidate must collect 210 thousand signatures Asia Plus, 2 September 2013
  6. 1 2 3 4 Tajikistan holds presidential election Al Jazeera, 6 November 2013
  7. "Zayirov Calls on His Supporters to Rally around Aynihal Babanazarova". Asia-Plus. 12 September 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  8. Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe: Tajikistan presidential election peaceful, but lacking in pluralism and genuine choice, international observers say (Retrieved 8 November 2013)
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