The election blackout will begin in every region of the country at midnight local time on February 29, the official media report, Eurasia Diary reports citing AKIpress.

All kinds of campaigning, including party events and rallies, handout of leaflets and political advertising on TV and radio are prohibited.

These restrictions will be in force during the voting day itself and will remain in place until polling stations in this region are closed.

240 candidates will compete for 63 seats in Tajikistan’s lower house (Majlisi Namoyandagon) of parliament (Majlisi Milli). 176 of them will run for parliament in 41 single-mandate constituencies and 65 others will compete for 22 seats in a single nationwide district.

48 of the officially registered candidates are women.

Members of the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) are directly elected for a five-year term according to a mixed majoritarian-proportional system. Of the 63 MPs, 41 are elected from single-mandate districts, with the winning candidate requiring a majority of votes cast. If no candidate receives a majority, a second round is held within two weeks between the two leading candidates. More than 50 per cent of registered voters must participate for the election to be valid; otherwise, repeat elections must be held.