Foreign Ministry recognizes Smirnov presidency

The voters have spoken, which resulted in Russia's Foreign Ministry now recognizing Igor Smirnov as Pridnestrovie's president

MOSCOW (Tiraspol Times) - Russia recognized Tuesday the landslide vote for incumbent President Igor Smirnov in Pridnestrovie, with its Foreign Ministry saying that this had to be a factor during status settlement talks with Moldova.

" - The results of the vote show that Igor Smirnov remains Transdnestr's acknowledged leader," the Foreign Ministry said, highlighting a turnout of 66.1%.

The overwhelming win by pro-independence Smirnov against three other candidates highlighted the fact that voters in the unrecognized country remain firm backers of independence. Three opposition challengers included a candidate favoring confederation with Moldova; Andrey Safonov.

" - The election, turnout, and the consolidation of voters around the incumbent leadership give us hope that the interests and concerns of Transdnestr's people will be duly heeded in ongoing efforts to find a political solution to the problem and resume the negotiating process in line with OSCE principles," the ministry said.

Results which were certified by international election observers showed that President Igor Smirnov, who has served three consecutive terms as leader of the post-Soviet de facto independent republic, won 82.4% of the vote.
Predictably, Moldova refused to recognize the vote and its result, which in Tiraspol, the capital of Pridnestrovie, was marked by masses of happy Smirnov-supporters who took to the street in a victory celebration Monday.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that international election monitors agreed that the vote was democratic and without any major violations. MPs from Russia, Poland and other countries were part of the election monitoring delegations who oversaw the transparent and democratic outcome of the election.

Campaign contradictions

Smirnov was challenged by three other contenders, including outspoken critic Andrey Safonov, the owner and editor of the opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta. Safonov said Monday that official preliminary results differed noticeably from exit poll data. He said exit polls showed the president received the backing of around 63.4% of voters, giving him 8.6% of the vote rather than the official figure of 3.2%.

" - But with all due respect, Safonov only bases his accusation on what everyone knows is notoriously unreliable exit polling," says Karen Ryan, a reporter with The Tiraspol Times. "I hate to be hard on a colleague, but as a fellow journalist Safonov knows all about exit polls. He knows that a difference of 5% or 6% is normal. We asked him if he had any other other evidence of fraud, and he said no."

Ryan also explains that on election day, 10 December, she covered a meeting between international election and representatives from the Andrey Safonov campaign who agreed with the observers' conclusions. None of them presented any complaints or criticism over the way that the elections had been carried out. There were no indications of fraud or coercion of voters by any of the candidates or the observers.

In the past two years, Pridnestrovie - which is also known as Transnistria and Transdniester - has held a total of four nationwide elections. Although they have been shunned by Moldova and by the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe), local voters and international observers continuously highlighted the calm, peaceful and democratic nature of the elections, with a Polish MP even going as far as to call PMR the best developed and most transparent democracy in the Black Sea region.

In contrast, neighboring Moldova has received strong Western criticism for the conduct of its most recent elections. According to official government information, the U.S. Congress recently held hearings to examine widespread irregularities that marred elections in Moldova, including arrests and harassment of opposition candidates, intimidation and suppression of independent media, and state run media bias in favor of candidates backed by the Communist-led Moldovan Government. (With information from RIA Novosti)

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» Election observers impressed by civility and democratic commitment in election