Voting democratic, calm as Transdniester picks its president

Billboards from the Central Election Commission remind voters of the date of the election, and invite them to participate

GRIGORIOPOL (Tiraspol Times) - " - It is a basic human right to be allowed to vote, and we have had that right for the past 16 years. Moldova doesn't like it, but here we are," says Grigoripol-resident Yuri Shcerbakov, casting his vote at a polling station on the banks of the Dniester river.

Another voter, Sorin Rares, had brought his family to vote with him shortly before lunch.

" - We are voting for a new name this time. I am not unhappy with the job that Smirnov did, and I know that many of my neighbors support him, but it can't hurt to try a new man for president."

Incumbent president Igor Smirnov is one of four candidates and is widely tipped as the frontrunner for the next five year term. He has repeatedly been re-elected and has publicly declared that he considers it his life mission to consolidate the independent statehood that the vast majority of the population wants for their new and emerging country.

In the run-up to today's election, Smirnov declared that he would prefer to only step down when Pridnestrovie, which is also known as Transnistria or Transdniester, had achieved international recognition and established formal diplomatic relations with members of the international community. This is an overriding issue in the election campaign and a wish held by a massive 97% of the voters, according to an independence referendum held on 17 September of this year.

Throughout the length of Pridnestrovie, 263 polling stations are open. The voter lists comprise 394 thousand people. The election will be declared valid it is attended by at least 50 percent of the registered voters.

Observers report calm, democratic conditions

With voting is still underway, Tiraspol Times heard comments from two of the more than two hundred election observers who have arrived here to oversee the conditions of the voting process.

" - So far, what we have seen is extremely well organized. It is clear to me that the CEC is skilled at organizing elections, and that this is not the first time. Everything is moving forward very well, in fact better than what we have seen in some other democratic countries," said a member of the congressional delegation from Russia.

He was flanked by international election observer Hazan Mirzayev, Duma MP and the president of the Russian Bar Association and Duma, who declared that "the Presidential Election of the Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica, PMR, is in full compliance with the requirements of both local and international law. Moreover, I believe that many countries would envy the preparation and the electoral process."

Nevertheless, in what locals consider a political decision, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) turned down an invitation to participate with independent election observers. The organization has a mandate to promote democracy and further the basic human rights of voting but did not see it fit to use this mandate here.

" - While officers of the region's security services stand in and around the polling stations, we can't talk about a free and democratic process," Claus Neukirch of the Chisinau mission of OSCE says.

Human rights groups and other organiazations who, unlike the OSCE, actually sent observers to monitor the outcome of the vote, report that Claus Neukirch is wrong and that "seldom has an OSCE diplomat been more misleading."

" - There is a completely normal presence of local police in the street, just like you would expect when an election is held," says Stefano Vernole, an election observer from the Italian delegation. "If Neukirch and his organization were serious about elections, they could come here and see this for themselves instead of spewing malicious propaganda which does not help the democratic process and does not help the voters of this place."

Locals criticize partiality, "hollow talk of democracy"

In what many here see as one-sided partiality, Claus Neukirch and the American-led OSCE mission of Moldova has consistently followed the Moldovan position on the issue. Moldova, which pursues a sixteen year old territorial claim on Pridnestrovie (Transdniester), holds that elections are "illegal" because they follow the local constitution of Pridnestrovie and not the constitution of Moldova, which most voters here consider to be a foreign country and whose laws are not enforced locally.

Back at the Grigoripol polling station, a voter who asked to be identified only as Katya, said:
" - It is OK that Moldova doesn't agree with the politics of our little stretch of land. But how can they say that our vote is illegal, and that we are not allowed to cast it? Someone should teach them about real democracy which is about letting the people choose their own government, free from outside interference. They, like the OSCE with its double standards, are full of hollow talk of democracy but only know the meaning of the word when it serves their own hidden interests."

Bystander Ghenadie Craiovescu added:
" - Yes, and after we have picked our president, Moldova and the rest of the world should respect the fact that he or she is our chosen representative. This is the person that we have picked to represent us and that we want to negotiate with Moldova on our behalf so both sides can have better relations and we can move on with our lives in freedom and peace."

See also:
» Moldova wants to stop presidential election in Transdniester; calls vote "illegal"
» OSCE offers to organize elections in Pridnestrovie