At stake in this election:

• The office of President of Tajikistan

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Emomali RAHMON
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Oqil OQILOV
• Assembly: Tajikistan has a bicameral Supreme Assembly (Majlisi Oli) consisting of the National Assembly (Majlisi Milli) with 34 seats and the Assembly of Representatives (Majlisi Namoyandagon) with 63 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by popular vote to serve a 7-year term. The President is term-limited to more than two terms; however, a constitutional amendment passed in 2003 allows President RAHMON to run for a third term which, if he prevails, would keep him in office until 2020.

Election Notes:

• Opposition candidate Oinihol BOBONAZAROVA, representing the United Reformist Forces, who would have been the first woman to run for President in Tajikistan’s history, was unable to collect the 210,000 signatures (equaling five percent of eligible voters in the country) required by the Central Commission on Elections and Referenda (CCER) by the October 10 deadline. The CCER extended the deadline by three days from the original deadline of October 7, but the candidate could not comply with the requirement. Of note is that the CCER ruled that the signatures of the over one million labor migrants based abroad could not count towards the legal requirement, even though those persons are registered voters and can vote out-of-country on election day. According to official Russian sources, there are nearly 1.4 million Tajikistan citizens living in Russia, with another 600,000 estimated to be living in other countries.

Main Candidates in the Presidential race:

• Olimjon BOBOEV
  Economic Reforms Party / Ҳизби ислоҳоти иқтисодии Тоҷикистон
• Tolibbak BUKHORIEV
  Agrarian Party / Ҳизби аграрии Тоҷикистон
• Abdulhalim GHAFFOROV
  Socialist Party / Ҳизби Сотсиалистии Тоҷикистон
• Saidja’tar ISMONOV
  Democratic Party / Ҳизби демократии Тоҷикистон
• Emomali RAHMON
  People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan (PDPT) / Ҳизби халқӣ-демократӣ Тоҷикистон
• Ismoil TALBAKOV
  Communist Party / Ҳизби Кумунистии Тоҷикистон

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 7,320,815 (July 2013 est.)
• Registered Voters: 3,621,174 (February 2010)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 4,011,983 (2013)

·         Is Tajikistan a signatory to CEDAW: No

·         Has Tajikistan ratified CEDAW: Yes, accession (26 October 1993)

·         Gender Quota: No

·         Female candidates in this election: N/A

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 12 (House of Representatives); 5 (National Assembly) following the 2010 elections

·         Human Development Index Position: 129

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Medium

Disability Data:

·         Is Tajikistan a signatory to CRPD: No

·         Has Tajikistan ratified CRPD: No

·         Population with a disability: 601,797 (est.)