DUSHANBE, March 3, 2010, Asia-Plus -- The past parliamentary elections were held in the spirit of democracy and in compliance with laws, Suhrob Sharipov, director of the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of Tajikistan, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

According to him, the landslide victory of the People’s Democratic Party (PDPT) in the election as well as the fact that its main opponent, the Islamic Revival Party (IRPT), have got only little more than 7.7 percent of votes are not surprise.

“For example, the Research Center Sharg has expected such election returns.  Thus, according to the findings of an independent survey conducted by the center, the IRPT and the Communist Party were expected to get 6 percent of votes each,” said the head of Tajik official think tank, “Three months before the elections already, I said that IRPT is experiencing a serious ideological crisis and has serious faults.  When political party makes prognosis it is normal, however, the reality is different.”

In his opinion, political parties ought to treat expert surveys more seriously.  He considers they must set up a group of experts who could help them assess their opportunities really and adequately but not to be engaged in self-praise.

Anyway, if somebody does not agree with the election results and considers that they were falsified, he may take legal action so that the problem would be solved legally, Sharipov said.

He added that the election results were very positive as a whole, because two other political parties made them into the country’s parliament.  Representation of more political parties in parliament will have a positive impact on the law-making process, Sharipov said.

On the critical assessment of the election by international observers, the expert said, “The level of democracy is determined by the level of development of political culture of people.”   “We have never stated that we have democratic state,” said Sharipov, “We say we are still on the path to building democratic society, and therefore, we have certain shortcomings in terms of criteria for democracy.”

“Election is a normal procedure of political process in state and Tajikistan is improving its positions, its legislation and legal relations in this process step by step,” he said.