Presidential challenger launches opposition campaign in Tiraspol

Opposition candidate Andrey Safonov, one of three challengers in the 10 December election

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - With 9,450 signatures, opposition candidate Andrey Safonov formalizes the registration of his presidential bid in Pridnestrovie, a month before the 10 December election. He is one of three challengers to incumbent President Igor Smirnov who is seeking reelection. The others include Communist Party candidate Nadesha Bondarenko and pro-business candidate Peter Tomayly, a member of parliament for the center-right Renewal party.

" - This election has all the chances for becoming the election where different views on the future of the republic are heard, where different approaches are sought for sharping both domestic and foreign policy", emphasized the candidate after adding that he and his candidate for vice president, Grigorii Volovoy, represent the true opposition in this election.

" - To speak about the creation of a coalition with other candidates is so far premature. It is necessary to wait for the registration of all participants in the pre-election campaign", concluded opposition journalist and now presidential candidate Andrey Safonov.

U.S.-support for opposition candidate

The presidential elections on 10 December will become the fourth in the sixteen year long history of the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica. Since the new country declared independence in 1990, it has been headed by current president Igor Smirnov who got elected to his first public office that year when he beat his official challenger, the First Secretary of the city’s Communist Party Committee, Leonid Tsurkan, by a 2-to-1 margin. Since then, Smirnov has faced a number of opposition candidates. Although his pro-presidential Respublika party lost to opposition party Renewal in the last parliamentary elections, held in December 2005, Smirnov's personal popularity remains high and he is widely tipped as the odds-on favorite for winning the presidency for a fourth term.

His latest challenger, Andrey Safonov, is an outspoken critic of the current Smirnov-led administration. He is the owner and editor in chief of the opposition-newspaper Novaia Gazeta, founded in 2000 with offices in Bender, Pridnestrovie's second largest city. The newspaper has received funding from the United States Embassy in Chisinau, Moldova, but Safonov has publicly assured critics that the US-funding has no influence on his editorial line and that it will not influence his policies, if elected.

Pridnestrovie, also known as Transnistria or Transdniester, has had de facto independence since 1990. It is a presidential republic, where the president is both head of state and head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. The unrecognized country has a multi-party system and an unicameral parliament. Both the president and the parliament are elected by popular vote in democratic elections. A large number of international observers have participated in past elections and have declared them free and fair, and in conformity with Council of Europe standards for democratic elections.

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» Outspoken Smirnov-critic Safonov launches presidential bid in Pridnestrovie