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Tiraspol meeting of the Patriotic Party of Pridnestrovie. The party supports incumbent president Igor Smirnov

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - "We consider this a political murder and the fulfillment of an order by our political opponents," reads a official statement by the Patriotic Party of Pridnestrovie, commenting on the assassination of its Tiraspol branch chairman Victor Neumoin.

Neumoin, 50, was shot outside his apartment shortly before midnight Tuesday. He died instantly of multiple gunshot wounds.

Neumoin, who headed of the Tiraspol branch of the Patriotic Party, was shot at 11 p.m. by a man who was waiting for him in a car outside his apartment building, authorities of the PMR Information Ministry said.

Neumoin died immediately. Local law enforcement officers were searching for the suspected shooter, AP reported.

A statement posted on patriot-pmr.org, the official website of Neumoin's party, says that the Patriotic Party of Pridnestrovie is deeply saddened by this loss and that the murder was a political murder "ordered by our political opponents. We demand from law enforcement an immediate and full investigation to bring the perpetrators to justice to the fullest extent of the law."

RIP: Victor Neumoin (1957 - 2007), chairman of Tiraspol branch of Patriotic Party of Pridnestrovie

Pro-government versus opposition

The Patriotic Party of Pridnestrovie, which is pro-independence, is headed by Oleg Smirnov, the son of recently re-elected President Igor Smirnov. It is part of an informal block of parties which supports the country's popular Smirnov government. Other parties in the coalition include The PMR Republican Party (Respublika), and the political party Our Will.

It was formed in 2006 to fend off a threat from increasingly powerful opposition parties, in particular the party Renewal which in 2005 won a surprise majority in parliament. Although Smirnov is personally popular, the politicians who support him have fared badly in recent elections, with voters preferring to support non-Smirnov candidates. This is especially true at the local level and in parliament, which is today dominated by the opposition.

Renewal's chairman, lawyer Yevgeny Shevchuk, 38, is currently Speaker of Parliament and is widely seen as a credible threat against Igor Smirnov's faction. The center right party is pro-business and, like the vast majority of local voters and other political parties, is in favor of independence.

Another opposition block is formed by two Communist parties that staged an anti-government protest Tuesday against privatizations and recent Smirnov-led reforms. In late 2006, the Communist Party of Pridnestrovie attempted to form a united coalition of all opposition parties. This block failed when Renewal decided not to join. Renewals's Western oriented political program has little in common with the policies favored by the Communists who advocate a return to state control, an end to Pridnestrovie's free market economy and reversals of recent privatizations.

The newly formed Social Democratic Party of Pridnestrovie is also an opposition party, and the only local party which advocates union with Moldova instead of outright independence. This position is only supported by approximately 3% of the voters.

Breakthrough (Proriv), a youth organization which obtained registration as a political party in 2006 and plans to field candidates in the next election, is not considered a full opposition party. It supported Igor Smirnov's candidacy in December's presidential elections, but has also held a number of protests on issues where the organization disagrees with specific government policies.

" - We are of course in favor of independence, because there is no other choice that will work in the long run. But we are also issue based, and we are not afraid to speak up when there are issues where we disagree with the government," says Breakthrough leader Alex Gorelovskiy.

Despite the statement from the Patriotic Party of Pridnestrovie, none of the country's opposition parties are believed to be behind the murder. According to local observers, neither Breakthrough, Renewal, the Social Democrats or the Communists have had any personal feuds with Neumoin or with the Patriotic Party.

Law enforcement will not rule out that the order for the hit came from outside Pridnestrovie, as a way to create the appearance of internal disorder in the unrecognized republic. In both Kosovo and Bosnia, in the Balkans, outside intervention was preceded by murders of local political figures, thus giving outside elements a pretext for intervention.

On the web:
» Patriotic Party of Pridnestrovie (official site) [1]