Polish MP hails election as region's "most open and transparent"
In the presence of 153 international election observers and 112 accredited journalists, Pridnestrovskaia Moldavskaia Respublica held elections on 11 December 2005 for its 43 member national parliament. A member of parliament from Poland participated and called the election by far the most open and transparent in the entire Black Sea region.
As reforms sweeps Eastern Europe, Pridnestrovie is no exception. Citizen groups are today building and improving on the functioning of the young country's democratic institutions.
A young democracy, Pridnestrovie is finally finding its place in the world. That was proven by the civic and transparent conduct of its voters, candidates and election commission during the country's on 11 December 2005. International election observers came from a wide variety of countries: the Commonwealth of Independent States sent a large team, both as CIS-EMO and as political organizations from Ukraine and Russia. More observers came from Moldova, Abkhazia, Poland, Jordan and Great Britain. The Polish observer team was led by Mateusz Piskorski, MP of Poland's Sejm (Parliament), and, for the third time in a row, the British Helsinki Human Rights Group sent international observers to monitor the voting process.
This policy of independent election monitoring in Pridnestrovie was started with the group's participation in the country's parliamentary elections in the year 2000 and continued again with Pridnestrovie's elections for President in 2001. That election was won by Igor Smirnov and the establishment party Respublica. However, by 2005 a significant opposition to the Smirnov faction had appeared in Pridnestrovie. The main opposition party, Renewal (founded in 2000), is led by the young Yevgeni Shevchuk, 37, a lawyer and former bank manager and Mihail Burla, a young and dynamic economist.
In March, 2005, Renewal gained the largest number of votes in local elections. Renewal’s used its success in the local elections to usher in changes to Pridnestrovie's electoral code, with more transparency and citizen participation. All of the OSCE guidelines for free and democratic elections were implemented, and most of the chairmen of local polling stations as well as many commission members were replaced. On 11 December 2005, international election observers from the British Helsinki Human Rights Group reported that they found only two polling stations chairmen who had served in that capacity in the past.
Observers: Free and fair elections
The report of the international elections observers in Pridnestrovie confirms that the European country's 2005 elections were free and fair. The British delegation writes that —
- Polling stations were properly equipped and efficiently run with proper curtained booths. Polling officials had all the facts regarding turnout at their finger tips. Election information was presented in three languages: Russian, Moldovan (Romanian) and Ukrainian further disproving the allegations that Moldovans in PMR are prevented from speaking their own language.
Only two stations visited had chairmen who had served in previous elections, the rest were new. Registers appeared to be properly compiled and BHHRG received no complaints from voters that their names were not on the lists. Transnistria (Pridnestrovie) has adopted a number of OSCE guidelines for the conduct of elections. Despite the OSCE’s commitment to promoting democracy, many of its practices are counter-productive. For instance, Transnistria (Pridnestrovie) has adopted the transparent ballot box – ubiquitous in fraud-prone, OSCE-supervised elections in the Balkans.
Most polling districts had a choice of candidates – not as many as in the past – although one or two places ( in the whole country) fielded a single candidate.
In their final report, both the Western observers and observers from the Commonwealth of Independent States agreed that the 11 December 2005 parliamentary elections in Pridnestrovie were democratic, free and fair. Poland's MP-led delegation was the loudest in its praise of Pridnestrovie's democratic system, singling it out as by far the most open and transparent in the Black Sea region.
After more than 16 years of independence, Pridnestrovie has grown up. It is a multi party democracy and is ready to take its place as a responsible neighbor and partner in the new Europe.
