DUSHANBE, February 15, 2010, Asia-Plus - The Islamic Revival Party (IRPT) says that local authorities are interfering in the pre-election race to ensure victory of the ruling-party candidates.

Shamsiddin Said, a spokesman for the IRPT, told a news conference in Dushanbe today that the party has recorded more than 50 instances of violation of the election laws and they have been sent to courts, prosecutor’s offices and the Central Commission for Elections and Referenda (CCER).

According to him, the number of such violations is increasing from day to day.  “Local authorities are interfering in the pre-election race,” said Shamsiddin Said, “They are doing the damdest to ensure victory of the ruling-party candidates.  Thus, traffic police officers recently detained three members of our party in the city of Vahdat.  They were driving around the city with posters agitating for the IRPT.

According to him, local authorities are breaking president’s order demanding that government officials avoid interfering in the parliamentary elections.

To provide transparent and fair elections, the Islamic Revival Party demanded that additional measures should be taken, the spokesman noted.

We will recall that Rahmatillo Zoirov, leader of the Social-Democratic Party (SDPT), noted at a news conference in Dushanbe on February 8 that despite a pledge from President Emomali Rahmon that the elections would be fair, the ruling-party candidates have been given more opportunities to meet with voters while opposition parties are only allowed to campaign in designated places.