Disinformation and dirty tricks in referendum campaign

In Tiraspol, a youth activist hands out election material to a passing motorist. Not all campaigning has been as orderly.

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - "Based on the last month or so of referendum campaigning, democracy is getting better in PMR," says columnist Michael Garner, "but it is still has plenty of room for improvement." According to Garner, both sides engage in irregularities.

On 17 September, Pridnestrovie, also known as Transnistria, will be having a vote on whether to continue its so-far-unrecognized independence and start negotiations toward a process of free association with Russia, or whether to throw in the towel and accede to Moldova's claim that the region be a part of the 1991-established Republic of Moldova.

Although the outcome doesn't seem to be in doubt, and the people of Pridnestrovie unlikely to turn back the clock on sixteen years of de facto independence, the election campaign has been marred by a series of irregularities from both pro- and anti-independence campaigners.

In Pridnestrovie, state-funding gives advantage to pro-independence camp

Almost daily, Pridnestrovie's stateowned TV channel TV-PMR has been broadcasting interviews and advertising in favor of independence. No equal times has been given to the other side or to showcase the pro-Moldovan argument for integration. Since TV-PMR is funded by taxpayer money, critics point to this as a clear abuse of state funds in favoring one political position over another.

The country's other nationwide channel, the privately owned TVS, has been more restrained. There, too, however, the pro-independence argument has dominated the airwaves.

" - The sad part of all this," says one pro-independence activist who wishes to remain anonymous, "is that our side doesn't even need to do all of this. Among the people in the street, almost no one wants to ever join with Moldova in a common state. Almost everyone wants full statehood for PMR, and nothing to do with Moldova. Even if no one went on TV, and no one campaigned for our side at all, we would still win."

For the strongly independent people, the outcome is given and only the actual percentage of pro-independence votes remains to be seen. Outside observers seem to agree. Parliamentarian and former spokesman for Moldova's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oleg Serebrian, predicts a landslide pro-independence win in Pridnestrovie. According to the chairman of the Social-Liberals, 90 percent of the population of PMR will vote for independence. Even among ethnic Moldovans, the majority are in favor of separate statehood for Pridnestrovie and want no future within Moldova.

Alexander Radchenko, a former presidential candidate and ex-member of Parliament, has campaigned for unification with Moldova. He has received the support of the opposition newspaper Novaia Gazeta, but the pro-Moldova unification campaign shows few signs resonating with voters.

In a display of political intolerance, election posters advocating independence for Pridnestrovie were torn down and destroyed in the city of Dubossary, north of the capital Tiraspol. According to journalist Irina Galtseva from New Region Press, the posters were destroyed by supporters of Pridnestrovie-Moldova unification, in particular Moldovan inhabitants of the Korzhevo block.

From Moldova, disinformation, unsubstantiated claims

A routine investigation into the recent bombings in Tiraspol was misrepresented by Moldova's press as harrassment against persons and organizations which are against separation of Pridnestrovie and Moldova. On 17 August, Ghenadie Taran, a pro-Moldovan NGO activist from Slobozya, south of Tiraspol, was brought in for questioning in relation to possible involvement in the Tiraspol bombings which took the lives of ten people on 6 July two people on 13 August. Moldovan state press reported that this meant that Taran, a hardline opponent of Pridnestrovie's independence, was not allowed to campaign for his point of view in the referendum. In reality, his NGO - a four member association called "Dignitas" - never printed a single piece of campaign material, didn't write a single letter to the editor, and never showed any inclination to campaign in the first place, making it somewhat hard for Pridnestrovie to stop something which hadn't even begun.

Along with other members of his group, he was released immediately after interrogation, a fact confirmed by news agency Moldovan Azi on 21 August (Quote: "Alexandru Macovenco, Ghenadie Taran, Igor Ivanov si Iurie Zatica, au fost eliberati la sfarsitul saptamanii trecute, din lipsa de probe.") This fact, however, did not stop Moldova's state news agency - Moldpres - from claiming, in its English-language version three days later, that "Ghenadie Taran has not been released so far."

News sources also repeated a spurious claim that after his release, Taran's whereabouts were unknown because he did not answer his home telephone, thereby implying that Pridnestrovie had a hand in his "unknown whereabouts". In reality, Taran's phone went unanswered because he'd left for a ten day stay visiting relatives in Chisinau.

While in Chisinau, he was working in the company of a family member and, as two different party members confirmed, was seen daily at the offices of the Social Democratic Party of Moldova (PSDM). Taran is a long-time PSDM member. On August 30 he returned to his home in Slobozya, in Pridnestrovie, with no incident. He now again answers his home telephone normally.

Outside manipulation "more restrained; equally damaging to democracy"

From outside the borders, the European Union weighed in by announcing that it would not recognize the results of the upcoming referendum.

" - This has the smell of double standards, in view of the fact that for the past decade, Europe has been the world's foremost advocate of the principle that no new countries should be created without prior consultation of the people through referenda," says Garner. The manipulation of this argument to be applied only to certain situations, and not all, is a "more restrained form of interference but equally damaging to democracy."

In New York, foreign policy analyst Mike Averko points out what he sees as a flaw in the European Union's argument:
" - The European Union doesn't consider the USSR's annexation of Moldova in World War II to have been legitimate. They recognize Moldova's right to break from the Soviet past. That past included Pridnestrovie being undemocratically incorporated into the Moldavian SSR. Hence, Pridnestrovie has a legitimate right to hold the upcoming referendum."

Pridnestrovie declared independence in 1990 and is engaged in what has been described as an "information war" with Moldova. Both sides accuse the other of numerous irregularities in an attempt to win the upper hand in Western public opinion. Moldova never recognized Pridnestrovie's declaration of independence and has, since 1990, sought to impose its sovereignty over the unrecognized country which it calls by the name of Transnistria.