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Revision as of 00:01, 25 April 2005
Igor Nikolayevich Smirnov (b. 23 October 1941) is the President of the internationally unrecognized Transdniestrian Moldovan Republic (TMR, or Transnistria).
Smirnov, an erstwhile Communist, served on various local councils during the Soviet era, when Transnistria was part of the Moldavian SSR. He was elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the region and used this position to declare the TMR's independence on 2 September 1990. This entity was originally titled the Moldovan Transnistrian Soviet Socialist Republic. Igor Smirnov assumed the office of President of the Republic on 1 December 1991, about a month before the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The Republic has held three presidential elections in its short existence, the results of which have not been recognized by any country other than the TMR. These occurred in 1991, 1996 and 2001. Smirnov has been elected by a wide margin each time, and the elections were thought to be unfair. In 2001, he took approximately 81.9 percent of the vote against two token opposition candidates who garnered less than 5 percent each. Because of the TMR's diplomatic isolation, there is little material available on political climate in the country; however, Smirnov is believed to rule in an authoritarian manner.
The 2003 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Moldova, published by the United States Department of State, notes that "Citizens' right to change their government was severely restricted in Transnistria … Prior to the 2001 'presidential' elections, authorities shut down a political party and a youth group, closed a leftist party newspaper … refused to register a potential presidential candidate." Observers in a northern constituency reported that Smirnov collected 103.6 percent of the region's votes.
The Vice President of the TMR is Sergey Fyodorovich Leontiev.
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