Elections for Supreme Soviet to take place in Transnistria

On December 12, the residents of the Transnistrian region will elect the members of the breakaway republic’s legislature. The local television channel TV PMR, quoted by Info-Prim Neo, reported that 123 candidates are running for the 43 seats of the Supreme Soviet. The electoral authorities of Transnistria announced that the ballot includes six protection levels designed to ensure the high quality of the elections. According to the Transnistrian agency Olvia Press, the elections will be monitored by representatives of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and by members of the Commonwealth of Independent States Election Monitoring Origination (CIS-EMO). An international press center was opened in Tiraspol on December 10. It is to ensure the transparency of the legislative elections. There are about 400,000 persons eligible to vote in the Transnistrian region. For the elections to be validated, the turnout of voters must be at least 25%. The persons who cannot cast their votes on Sunday were able to vote beforehand, on December 7 and 8.