Constitution of Tajikistan

The Constitution of Tajikistan was adopted on 6 November 1994 through a national referendum, becoming the country's first constitution as an independent state and replacing the Soviet-era constitution of 1978. It establishes Tajikistan as a sovereign, democratic, law-based, secular and unitary state with a presidential system of government, and declares that man, his rights and liberties, shall be the supreme value. The document consists of a preamble and 100 articles across ten chapters covering foundational principles, rights and freedoms, parliament, the presidency and the judiciary, and it designates Tajik as the state language with Russian as the language of interethnic communication. Three amendments have followed: a 1999 change that created a bicameral parliament and legalized religion-based political parties, a 2003 change that extended the presidential term from five to seven years and created the upper house National Assembly, and a 2016 change that removed presidential term limits and lowered the minimum candidacy age from 35 to 30.