Presidential elections were held in
Transnistria
Transnistria, officially known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic and locally as Pridnestrovie, is a Landlocked country, landlocked Transnistria conflict#International recognition of Transnistria, breakaway state internationally recogn ...
on 11 December 2011.
As no candidate received more than 50% of the vote in the first round, a run-off was held on 25 December.
Candidates
Incumbent
president
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*'' Præsident ...
Igor Smirnov, running for re-election, had been in power since Transnistria declared independence in 1990, and was not term-limited.
Candidate registration was open from 11 September to 11 November.
On 14 September, opposition MP and former speaker of the
Supreme Council Yevgeny Shevchuk was the first to nominate himself at the CEC. Shevchuk is affiliated with
Obnovlenie, who are already supporting Kaminski, signalling a possible split. Shevchuk had been followed by
Transnistrian Communist Party
The Transnistrian Communist Party (, , ) is a communist party in the unrecognized state of Transnistria. The party was led by Oleg Khorzhan until his arrest and imprisonment in 2018.
The party newspaper is the Russian-language biweekly ''Pra ...
chairman and MP
Oleg Khorzhan, as well as newspaper editor
Andrey Safonov
Andrei Safonov (; born 6 June 1964) is a politician from Transnistria. He lives in Bender, Transnistria's second largest city.
Biography
Safonov ran for president against incumbent president Igor Smirnov in the election held on December 10 ...
, who was also a candidate in the
2006 election.
On 28 September,
Proriv founder and MP
Dmitry Soin also nominated himself as a candidate.
Soin, Smirnov, Khorzhan, Safonov, Shevchuk and Kaminsky were registered as candidates, Safonov was initially refused registration by CEC with reference to more than 15% of invalid signatures among those gathered in his support, but later registered according to a ruling by Tiraspol city court.
Results
An
exit poll
An election exit poll is a poll of voters taken immediately after they have exited the polling stations. A similar poll conducted before actual voters have voted is called an entrance poll. Pollsters – usually private companies working fo ...
taken showed Smirnov in the lead in the first round with 47.38%, with opposition vote split between Shevchuk (23.21%) and Kaminski (22.6%). Transnistrian law requires a majority to be elected, meaning a second round would be necessary. After the first round, Smirnov called for the results to be annulled due to irregularities. The announcement of results was postponed from 12 to 14 December. Preliminary results (at 95% counted) showed that Smirnov was only in third place with 25.5%, with Shevchuk at 39% and Kaminski at 27.7% reaching the run-off round. Kaminski was reportedly Russia's preferred candidate.
A run-off was held on 25 December and won by Shevchuk, who was elected with 75% of the vote. His rival Anatoliy Kaminskiy received only 20% and acknowledged his defeat.
References
External links
Transnistrian Central Electoral Commission
{{Transnistrian elections
2011 elections in Moldova
Elections in Transnistria
2011 in Transnistria
December 2011 in Europe
Election and referendum articles with incomplete results