DUSHANBE, October 3, 2013, Asia-Plus – The Central Commission for Elections and Referenda (CCER) is reportedly ready to consider the possibility of extending the signature collection period.

“The Communist and Democratic parties applied to the CCER with solicitation to extend the signature collection period,” Abdumannon Dodoyev, the head of CCER’s office, told Asia-Plus in an interview.

According to him, they justified their request by saying that a 20-day period given for collection of 210,000 signatures is not enough for covering all regions of the country.

“The Central Commission for Elections and Referenda will study their application at the earliest possible date and it cannot be ruled out that the Commission will comply with their request,” Dodoyev stressed.

Under Tajikistan’s legislation, nominated candidates are required to support their candidature with signatures from 5 per cent (210,000 signatures) of the electorate within a 20-day period.  According to some sources, there are around 4 million voters in Tajikistan, including some 900,000 residing abroad.

Many local experts and representatives of some political parties say that the electoral 5-percent threshold, in combination with a short period of time, presents significant obstacles to registering as a candidate.