Smirnov promise Soares not to hamper Moldovans to vote

The president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE (OSCE PA), Joao Soares, states he got a promise from the Transnistrian authorities not hamper the Moldovan citizens living on the Nistru;s left bank to vote. “That is what they promise, I do not speak in their name, that is what they told us,” Soares said a news conference in Chisinau on Thursday, February 12. Joao Soares has added he felt in Tiraspol “different tones of different personalities”, but refused to go into detail. The president has led a deputation of OSCE parliamentarians for three to Moldova, making a visit to Tiraspol. According to a press release issued by the OSCE on this occasion, in meetings with officials in both Chisinau and Tiraspol involved in resolving the status of Transnistria, the delegation encouraged continued cooperation in confidence-building measures between the two sides. “The danger of war is fortunately far away,” Soares said, and he greeted the efforts of the OSCE mission to Moldova in supporting the confidence-building measures between the experts from both sides. During the last general local elections in Moldova, Transnistria militsiamen disturbed the voting process in Corjova village on the Nistru's left bank, but under Chisinau's jurisdiction. The Tiraspol authorities have never accepted to open polling stations on the territory they control, but the Moldovan citizens residing in the area have voted on the river's right bank since the 1992 hostilities.