A group of Moldovan citizens from the Transnistrian region signal the violation of the right to vote and to stand as a candidate at elections. In a petition that was made public by the Reintegration Policies Bureau, the signatories complain about “the illegalities committed by the criminal group led by Vadim Krasnoselsky”, referring to the Transnistrian leader who is competing for a new term in the local elections set for December 12, IPN reports.
“Krasnoselsky and the criminal group that manages Transnistria determined the exclusion and abusive withdrawal of candidates from the presidential elections of December 12, 2021. We regret a lot that these presidential elections are manipulated and rigged, while Krasnoselsky’s victory has been already secured by manipulation and fraud. As the only challenger of the current President is not known to the public in the region, the elections are just a formality for legalizing this criminal regime in Tiraspol,” says the petition.
The signatories call on the state institutions, international organizations and international media outlets to pay attention and react to the wrongdoings witnessed in the electoral process in the Transnistrian region. They call upon the citizens to sabotage the elections and not to recognize their results as the dictatorial regime of Krasnoselsky should be eliminated. “We reserve the right to protest in Chisinau, Kiev, Moscow, Brussels, Strasbourg, Geneva and other cities to express our dissatisfaction with the mafia regime that manages us and encroaches on our rights. We will not protest in Tiraspol as we are constrained and will expose our lives and the lives of the dear ones to risks,” noted the signatories.
They also called on the Russian authorities – President Vladimir Putin, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Offic Dmitry Kozak – to stop supporting the criminal administration of the breakaway republic in its wrongdoings against the population and not to allow Russian observers to oversee the elections of December 12. “We call upon the international community, the President of the Republic of Moldova, Missis Maia Sandu, and Prime Minister, Missis Natalia Gavrilița, to take all the actions to defend the basic rights and freedoms of the citizens from the left side of the Nistru. To remedy the situation, we consider we should at least align with the democratic standards of Chisinau,” runs the petition.
The first so-called “presidential elections” in the unrecognized Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova were held on December 1, 1991, with Igor Smirnov being declared winner in these. Smirnov won three terms, holding office for 20 years, until the end of 2011, when he was replaced by Yevgeny Shevchuk. The incumbent leader Vadim Krasnoselsky won the elections of December 2016 and is running again.
