DUSHANBE, October 7, 2013, Asia-Plus – The ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has reportedly gathered the necessary number of signatures from eligible voters for registration its nominees as a presidential candidate.
“We have easily gathered more than 220,000 signatures to support our presidential nominee,” the PDP public relations department head, Usmon Solehov, told Asia-Plus in an interview Monday morning.
According to him, the will submit the gathered signatures to the Central Commission for Elections and Referenda (CCER) today.
He stressed that those more than 220,000 signatures do not include the signatures gathered by the Union of Youth of Tajikistan and the Federation of Independent Union of Tajikistan that have also supported the incumbent president’s candidature for president.
Founded in 1993, the People’s Democratic Party is the largest political party in Tajikistan, boasting more than 230,000 registered members. Incumbent President Emomali Rahmon is chairman of the party. The PDPT now controls some 65 percent of the seats in parliament (45 of 63 seats).
President Emomali Rahmon, who has been leader of Tajikistan since 1992, is running for a fourth term.
The law provides that presidential candidates can be nominated by registered political parties, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions, the Union of Youth of Tajikistan, as well as the council of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), the council of Dushanbe City, and councils of provinces, districts, and cities.
Nominated candidates are required to support their candidature with signatures from 5 per cent of the electorate within a 20-day period.
Many experts say the high number of signatures, in combination with a short period of time, present significant obstacles to registering as a candidate. The Communist and Democratic parties asked the CCER to extend the signature collection period.
Mr. Abdumannon Dodoyev, the head of the CCER’s office, says the CCER is expected to consider the issue related to the possibility of extending the signature collection period today.
Seven presidential nominees have been nominated by different political parties and other groups to run in the 2013 presidential election scheduled for November 6.
