The nation's parliament
Pridnestrovie's parliament in session. Members of parliament are democratically elected for five year terms in free elections where hundreds of candidates compete. The last election was in December 2005.
The Pridnestrovian 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, the opposition party "Renewal" 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, 37, 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.
