In Tiraspol, Communists complain of unfair election campaign conditions

Communists in Pridnestrovie held a press conference Tuesday to denounce campaign favoritism

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - In the run-up to Sunday's presidential elections in Pridnestrovie, the leading Communist Party of the country held a press conference to complain about what it sees as unfair campaign conditions.

Its candidate, Nadezhda Bondarenko, is not given the same amount of airtime on state-run TV PMR, and although she has ample access to the country's main private TV channel - TVS, the Television of Free Choice - this is not enough to offset the alleged favorism, in the eyes of the Communists.

Campaign manager and party leader Oleg Khorzhan explained to assembled journalists that candidates are treated unevenly by state-owned media.

" - There are unequal rights for the aspirants in the media, in particular, on the first republic channel [TV-PMR, ed.], where 70% of the time in the news slot is devoted to Igor Smirnov," says Khorzhan.

He also focused the attention of journalists to the "wide use of an administrative of a service life in favor of the current President", giving some examples of what he sees as abuse by public sector employees.

" - It is highly irregular to see in the campaign that social workers hand out advertising in public for Igor Smirnov," noted Khorzhan.

" - We also have reports of young people who have gone to towns and villages and have been intimidating the pensioners. They are being told that if they don't vote for Igor Smirnov, then their pensions are at risk."

Smirnov camp dismisses accusations

A spokesman from the pro-Smirnov Respublika party explained that public employees, including social workers, are free to campaign on behalf of any candidate. Some of them do so on behalf of Smirnov, said the spokesman, but if they hand out campaign advertising to the voters, then they do so after they are done working. They dedicate their free time to this, like any private person is allowed to do, and do not perform any campaign duties while they are at work.

When asked about the claim that pensions are at risk for those who don't vote for Smirnov, the spokesman added that this is an exaggeration.

" - I wasn't there, so I don't know what the exact claim is. But we do have some enthusiastic campaign workers. What I think is that maybe one of them could have told voters that the economy will get worse unless Smirnov is re-elected, and that a bad economy in the future can put the whole pension system at risk."

If re-elected, this will be the fourth time Igor Smirnov obtains the post of president of the unrecognized country. His Communist challenger, Nadezhda Bondarenko, is a former police officer and the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Dnestrovskaya Pravda. She is one of two journalists to enter the race, alongside critical opposition voice Andrey Safonov.

Pridnestrovie - which is frequently also called Transdniestria, Transnistria and a slew of other names related to the Dniester river which forms its border with Moldova - holds presidential elections on Sunday. They are the fourth presidential elections since the small country declared independence in 1990, in the breakdown of the Soviet Union. Sunday's voting will be overseen by international observers, although some Western groups who are opposed to Pridnestrovie's statehood - most notably the OSCE - have declined the invitation by PMR's Central Election Commission to participate.

See also:
» Communists field female candidate for 2006 presidential election