MOLDOVA: Veteran rebel leader Igor Smirnov out of the running in breakaway Transdniestria region Presidential election

Record ID: 327656

  • Title: MOLDOVA: Veteran rebel leader Igor Smirnov out of the running in breakaway Transdniestria region Presidential election
  • Date: 16th December 2011
  • Summary: TIRASPOL, TRANSDNIESTRIA, MOLDOVA (RECENT) (REUTERS) PEOPLE AND CARS IN CENTRAL TIRASPOL CAMPAIGN BILLBOARD SHOWING MOSCOW AND RUSSIAN PRESIDENT DMITRY MEDVEDEV TANK AS MONUMENT IN CENTRAL TIRASPOL TRANSDNIESTRIAN FLAG FLYING OVER GOVERNMENT BUILDING BUILDING OF TRANSDNIESTRIAN GOVERNMENT
  • Embargoed: 31st December 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Moldova, Republic of
  • Country: Moldova, Republic of
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAQYVLYT6W9261TXY2MUCLVTL9
  • Story Text: The leader of Moldova's breakaway Transdniestria region, who is seeking to extend his two-decade rule, appeared to be out of the running on Wednesday (December 14) after coming third in a presidential election.
    According to the election commission's figures, former parliamentary speaker Yevgeny Shevchuk, a 43-year-old lawyer, was in first place with 38.5 percent of the vote. Current speaker Anatoly Kaminsky, who is endorsed by Moscow, was in second with 26.5 percent, while Igor Smirnov cam in third, with 24.8 percent of the vote.
    "On the territory of Transdniestria 61,238 voters voted for For Smirnov Igor Nikolayevich, which is 24.82 (percent of voters). "For Yevgeny Vasilyevich Shevchuk 95,062 on the territory of Transdniestria, and that is 38.53 percent," Transdniestria Central Election Commission chief Pyotr Denisenko said announcing the results.
    Smirnov's two main rivals should now face each other in a runoff, according to the central election commission.
    But the 70-year-old Smirnov, who has run the mainly Russian-speaking territory as an independent fiefdom since it broke from Moldova and fought a brief separatist war against Moldovan forces in 1992, still holds out hope of hanging on to power.
    His camp has called for the Dec. 11 election to be annulled and, though official figures put him in third-place, the election commission said it would only make its decision on Thursday (December 15).
    "That number of votes which the presidential candidate Shevchuk has gained, 95,000 votes, with a significant gap ahead of the second candidate, as well as that gap which the second and the third place (candidates) have, and this is 4,000 votes, can no way affect the ranking of candidates, with just 127 complaints, some of them are actually not complaints as we explained but just reports on unsatisfactory registering voter lists," Central Election Commission member, Vladimir Chushnenko said during the session on Wednesday.
    Smirnov's camp has submitted a 50-page dossier of alleged violations to support his call for the poll to be declared invalid.
    "'On December 8, at 11:35 pm Moscow time, the (Russian) television company NTV showed program named 'Transdniestria, Term for President' which contained defamatory information about me (Smirnov) as presidential candidate of Transdniestrian Moldovan Republic, and at the same time (it contained) information which was in fact election advertisement in favour of the Renewal Republican Party and its leader, the Transdniestria presidential candidate, Anatoly Kaminsky'," Central Election Commission member, Dmitry Kozlenkov read from Smirnov's complaint.
    He continued: "'At the polling station number 77, the representatives of the all-Russian political party United Russia, which is directly supporting the Transdniestria presidential candidate Anatoly Kaminsky, were constantly present in the polling station room and illegitimately meddling in the vote process with agitating, which hindered the free choice by voters'."
    Unrecognised internationally, Transdniestria relies heavily on Russian financial aid and Moscow still has about 1,500 troops stationed in the ragged strip of land which runs down Moldova's eastern border with Ukraine.
    Moldovan and European Union officials say that with Smirnov at the helm the territory has become a "black hole" of arms smuggling and trafficking and other criminal activity.
    Russia, party to protracted international talks to settle Transdniestria's status, made it clear in the run-up to the vote that it was tiring of Smirnov's unwillingness to negotiate.
    Russia endorsed Kaminsky, 61, whose campaign focused on attacking government corruption. But the emergence of Shevchuk, an old rival of Smirnov's, has upset both his and the Kremlin's plans.
    Shevchuk quit as speaker in 2009 after a standoff with Smirnov over how many powers the veteran leader should be able to exercise constitutionally. Shevchuk told reporters on Wednesday his camp would call for the official recognition of election results.
    "Those actions which we witnessed today look more like some deliberate attempts to drag on presenting official election results to the citizens," Shevchuk.
    Shevchuk said earlier this week that he would not initiate public protests if the vote was scrapped, but would instead turn to the courts to solve the matter.
    Moldova, one of Europe's poorest countries but an EU aspirant, regards Transdniestria as an integral part of its territory and has a big stake in the outcome of the vote. Deadlock in parliament has left Moldova without a full-time president for two years. On Dec. 16, lawmakers will make a fresh attempt to elect a head of state.
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