New political party "People's Will" founded by Members of Parliament

Oleg Gudymo, parliamentarian and the founder of a new political party; "People's Will of Pridnestrovie"

BENDER (Tiraspol Times) - A new political party, the People's Will (Narodnaya Volya) of Pridnestrovie, has been established by independent lawmakers and veteran politicians with ties to both Moldova and Russia. Its constituent meeting was held on Monday in Bender, the second-largest city of Pridnestrovie (also known as Transdniester and, in Romanian, as Transnistria).

The party is affiliated with Narodnaya Volya, a political party of a similar name in Russia, but among those present at its founding congress were many ethnic Moldovans, including former ex-Speaker of Parliament Grigore Mărăcuţă, also a current Member of Parliament.

A total of 185 delegates participated in the foundation of the new political party, electing parliamentarian Oleg Gudymo as the new party's president. Gudymo is a longtime lawmaker who has in the past held cabinet posts as well. He is currently head of the parliamentary Security Committee which oversees peacekeeping operations in the buffer zone where Moldova initiated attacks in a failed 1992 invasion attempt.

" - I know that this new party will find its place in the political party system of Pridnestrovie, and that party building will proceed vigorously," the MP said, adding that the new party will seek closer ties with Slavic states and will promote traditional Slavic values.

The vast majority of the population in Pridnestrovie is of Slavic ethnicity, unlike Moldova, where less than 20% are Slavs. Most people in Pridnestrovie speak Russian, in contrast to Moldova where most people speak Romanian. Cultural and historical differences are vast between the two sides of the Dniester river, and Pridnestrovie has never been part of an independent Moldovan state at any time in history.

Natalia Vitrenko, a former presidential candidate from Ukraine, and People's Will leader Sergey Baburin, a member of Russia's lower house, were present during the founding ceremony of the new party.

Multi-party democracy questioned

Predictably, Moldova - which itself has been under heavy scrutiny for undemocratic standards and - has questioned recent democratic developments in Pridnestrovie.

" - First, the problem was that there were not enough political parties. Now, the problem is that the political parties are not to Moldova's liking," says a political activist.

" - In the 1990s, they complained about a lack of political plurality, but now, when we are in the middle of building an active civil society, they complain too. We are starting from scratch and our parties are still small, but the Moldovan naysayers are already smearing our efforts by saying that we are supporters of the president," explains Petru Gladchi, a human rights activist from Tiraspol.

" - This is true in some cases, of course. Every party is free to support whichever candidate they want. But in other cases, we have parties like Renewal, and the two Communist parties, and like the Social Democrats for instance, and they are in opposition to Smirnov. So Moldova is wrong, once again," affirms Gladchi.

Chisinau complains is that many of some of these new parties lack substantial membership and that to a certain degree these political organizations currently support the incumbent president.

" - It is too early to say if these new parties are just Potemkin parties" explained researcher and columnist Michael Garner in a telephone interview with Tiraspol Times, "because they first have to be given time to grow, develop internal structures, and find their own voices in the political spectrum. A lot will depend on the level of freedom in the press, and here I can fortunately see that Transdniestria is on the right direction."

Pridnestrovie declared independence in 1990. It has a multi-party system and an unicameral parliament which is currently controlled by opposition party Renewal. The president is elected by popular vote.

Igor Smirnov, the recently re-elected President, has strong personal support among voters but his main political base, the Respublica party, is weak and not seen as an effective parliamentary force.
The main political force in the country is the "Renewal" party (Obnovlenie) which is headed by parliamentary Speaker Yevgeny Shevchuk. It agrees with Smirnov on the main foreign policy issue and stands up for the independence of Pridnestrovie, but pursues confrontational politics domestically.

As reported by Moldovan news agency Infotag, the Renewal party is unofficially considered to be the party of small business, competing with the parties which support the authorities. The new People's Will party (Narodnaya Volya) of Pridnestrovie is expected to be initially supportive of the president, and not pursue an openly confrontational line. During its founding congress, it congratulated Igor Smirnov on his overwhelming re-election, and it is likely that the party will ally itself with pro-Smirnov "Respublica" deputies in parliament.

See also:
» More new parties in Pridnestrovie as youth group joins the fray