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.

[6] 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] 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.