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Controlled by the democratic opposition: Pridnestrovie's parliament in session.

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - Independent observers in Tiraspol see a challenge brewing to president Igor Smirnov, coming from the opposition-controlled Parliament. The parliament, called the Supreme Soviet, has been in the hands of an opposition party since late 2005.

Pridnestrovie's parliament has 43 members. All members of parliament are elected in direct elections, universal suffrage, and among them they then elect their chairman, known as the Speaker of the parliament.

In the last election, 11 December 2005, the opposition party Renewal - Obnovlenie, in Russian - won a majority. As a result, a slew of fresh faces occupy key posts in Pridnestrovie: Among others, the parliamentary chairman, speaker of Parliament, Yevgeny Shevchuk [1], 38, a lawyer and former bank manager, and - from the same party - the head of parliament's important commission for economic affairs, opposition leader Mikhail Burla.

Last year's challenge failed

In March 2005, Renewal gained the largest number of votes in local elections. Emboldened by this victory its 17 MPs launched "Initiative 17-TI" which among other things attempted to force a vote to change the status of the republic from a presidential to a parliamentary republic.

On 29 April this group initiated ambitious draft changes to Pridnestrovie's constitution aimed at reinforcing the parliament's role vis-à-vis the president and the executive – for instance by granting it the right to a no-confidence vote on cabinet ministers and other officials, as well as the right to control the work and the spending of the executive. However, they failed to get the necessary quorum.

Some more modest changes passed, as well as a law on local administration stipulating that the chairmen of raion and city councils have to be elected by the councils by secret vote, adopted on 18 May at first reading. Yevgeny Shevchuk also promoted a legislative initiative to transform state-run "TV PMR" into a public broadcasting institution.

Today, Renewal’s success in the most recent parliamentary elections means that they hold a solid majority. 23 of 43 seats are in their hands, with another 6 being added to the bloc by coalition allies. When they decide to again mount a challenge to president Igor Smirnov, obtaining the necessary quorum will no longer be a problem.

The spin stops here

Moldovan observers agree with Tiraspol's experts that a showdown is brewing. In a document published in Chisinau 19 June 2006, spin doctor and political analyst Oazu Nantoi talked of a "Countdown Race" between PMR's Parliament and the president, pointing out also that the statutes of the political party Renewal in its Chapter II, p.4 provides for "participation in the presidential elections."

Nantoi, who is viewed by Tiraspol's official Olvia Press news agency as the architect of the "black hole" smear campaign against Pridnestrovie's independence, openly worried that future developments in PMR would make it "more difficult for Chisinau to talk about a 'criminal regime', etc."

Pridnestrovie declared its independence in 1990. Ever since independence, it has functioned as a de facto republic with its own legislature and government institutions. Despite meeting all the requirements for statehood under international law, an unresolved territorial claim by Moldova has prevented it from obtaining international recognition. The country is also known under the unofficial name Transnistria, a Romanian name, and the more neutral and less-offending name Transdniesteria. (With information from The Economist)