Opposition and incumbent rally supporters to vote in Transdniestria

Incumbent presidential candidate Igor Smirnov on the campaign trail, with the red and green flag of PMR behind him

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - Authorities and political parties in Pridnestrovie, also known as Transnistria or Transdnestr, are urging the republic's voters to go to the polls this Sunday for what will be the fourth presidential election since independence was declared in 1990.

" - Let us all demonstrate the power of true democracy," said Olga Gukalenko, spokeswoman and vice chair of the opposition party Renewal. One year ago, in the December 2005 parliamentary elections, the party obtained a surprise victory over pro-government party Respublica which supports incumbent president Igor Smirnov. It became the country's largest party and its chairman, Yevgeny Shevchuk, 38, became parliamentary Speaker of Parliament in a move which replaced Smirnov-loyalist and longtime parliamentary Speaker Grigoriy Marakutsa.

" - To participate in the voting this December 10 in Pridnestrovie, Renewal has invited more than 100 international observers. They include members of the parliament Duma, from Russia, and city council members from Moscow, as well as election experts from Ukraine and from Germany," said the opposition party's spokeswoman. "It is important that the international community sees first hand, with its own eyes, that here in Pridnestrovie our citizens are actively taking part in building their state and its institutions by participating in the democratic life. This is a very important political event of our country, and the degree of our solidarity, consolidation, political awareness and political maturity will be shown precisely during this day," she said.

Renewal, whose chairman Yevgeny Shevchuk is widely seen as a credible presidential challenger, did not launch a candiate for this year's election. Instead, Renewal party member and businessman Peter Tomaily is standing as an independent candidate on his own initiative, but has not received the formal endorsement of his party.

According to Olga Gukalenko, the "job of the party in this election is not to campaign for a specific candidate, but to make sure that we have a high voter turnout in the electoral districts."

Candidate: We are not Moldova

Meanwhile, incumbent presidential candidate Igor Smirnov, seeking re-election, held a campaign rally in Tiraspol where he reminded voters that "we are not Moldova, and we will never be."

" - For the 16 years of its existence, the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica has established itself as an independent, sovereign, self-sufficient state with a developed economy," Smirnov said in his address.

Smirnov, 65, highlighted the role of Russia over Moldova, adding that Pridnestrovie and Russia are linked by historical, economic and cultural ties. Historically, Pridnestrovie has never been part of Moldova at any time in the past, and economically, bilateral trade with Moldova is down to just 1% of Pridnestrovie's turnover after relations between the two sides froze even more due to a March 3 introduction of customs rules which Pridnestrovie perceives as an economic blockade.

Culturally, Moldova is largely Romanian-speaking and has a majority population of Moldovans, ethnically identical to Romanians. In contrast, Pridnestrovie speaks Russian and the majority of its population consists of ethnic Slav. The Slavic culture dominates Pridnestrovie where everything is written in Cyrillic, in sharp contrast to Moldova which introduced a language law and changed to the Latin alphabet upon independence from the Soviet Union.

Pridnestrovie pursues a foreign policy where it seeks independent international ties and diplomatic recognition. Its parliament has asked Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly to recognize it as a sovereign independent state. This followed a 17 September referendum where Pridnestrovie's population voted overwhelmingly in favor of continuing its de facto independence with a view to closer ties with Russia. In the same referendum, 94% rejected unification with Moldova, shattering hopes in Chisinau that Moldova will ever be able to enforce its unresolved territorial claim.

Sunday's election will be the fourth in the unrecognized republic's history. Four candidates seek the top spot: Member of parliament Peter Tomaily, the editor of a free market opposition newspaper Andrey Safonov and the editor of the Communist Party newspaper, Nadezhda Bondarenko.

See also:
» Early voting begins in PMR's presidential election