DUSHANBE, February 25, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Local authorities in Tajikistan never expected such a mass election campaign from the Islamic Revival Party (IRPT), and therefore, they started getting nervous during the second half of the election campaign activities, IRPT leader Muhiddin Kabiri remarked here today at a roundtable, organized by Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service.

According to him, IRPT will use all legal means to uphold votes cast for it.  Asked about possible falsification of the election results, Kabiri said, “If the election results are falsified, we will not stand aside.”

On the personalities of contestants, the IRPT leader noted that parliament is a place for politicians and “strong and courageous politicians.”

Asked about his party’s attitude to the fact that cases of officials filing lawsuits against independent media have become more frequent, Kabiri noted that such lawsuits do not do honor to authorities.

“We are glad that under such situation, the country’s media are uniting and hold single position, while political parties that owe independent media a lot unfortunately do not make a joint statement to support the independent publications,” Kabiri noted.