QURGHON TEPPA, June 30, Asia-Plus -- An office of the Islamic Revival Party (IRP)’s organization in the southern city of Sarband has been handed over to local state-run weekly Nouri Sarband (The Light of Sarband).

An official source at the Sarband mayor’s office says the building was handed over to the newspaper on the mayor’s order.

The decision has been made on the basis of minutes of the meeting of the IRP’s organization in Sarband on closing down its office, the source noted.

Representatives of the IRP’s organization in Sarband have confirmed that a meeting of the IRP’s organization in Sarband that took place on June 4 made a decision to end IRP’s activities in Sarband and close down its office in the city.

We will recall that dozens of members and heads of the Islamic Revival Party (IRP)''s regional offices on June 20 and 21 announced their departures from the IRP by way of online videos.  Some cited the party''s poor performance in the March 1 parliamentary elections, which left the IRP without a seat in parliament for the first time since 2000.  Others said they were disheartened by a series of sex videos involving party officials.  Still others simply reasoned that there was no need for an Islamic party in Tajikistan.  Many of the online announcements end with expressions of support and gratitude for the policies of President Emomali Rahmon.

The IRP''s leadership has blamed its current crisis on “government pressure” that has helped lead to the closure of regional offices one after another across the country.

Founded in October 1990, the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan is the only Islamic party officially registered in former Soviet Central Asia.  The IRP was registered on December 4, 1991.  It was banned by the Supreme Court in June 1993 and legalized in August 1999.  Its official newspaper is Najot (Salvation).  According to some source, the IRP now has some 50,000 members.

Since 1999, the party has reportedly been the second-largest party in Tajikistan after the ruling People''s Democratic Party of Tajikistan.

In the 2005 and 2010 parliamentary elections, the IRP won two out of 63 seats in the parliament, but in the 2015 parliamentary polls the party failed to clear the 5 percent threshold needed to win parliament seats.

The party leaders said the elections were not fair and alleged fraud in vote-counting.