CHISINAU, October 12 (Itar-Tass) — Supreme Soviet /parliament/ of the unrecognized Dniester Republic, which is formally a region of Moldova, has asked the State Duma, the lower house of Russian parliament, to assist the republic with assuring the democratic character of the election process.
“We are asking the leadership of the Russian federation to send their experts from among the members of Russia’s Central Electoral Commission and the Public Chamber to the Dniester Republic for the remaining part of the electoral cycle so that they would monitor the presidential election,” the Supreme Soviet said in a statement Wednesday.
The request is addressed to Russia as a country acting in the capacity of a guarantor of peace settlement and normalization in the region.
The presidential election in the Dniester Republic has been scheduled for December 11.
The statement pledged the Supreme Soviet’s preparedness to cooperate with any agencies of state power that might assist in resolving the problems related to election of the president.
“Defense of democratic principles and the steerage of the election process in line with legislation is a prerequisite for the Dniester’s bright future,” the parliament said.
“The Dniester Republic’s MPs have to make public the presence of a serious threat to the process of democratic elections,” it said. “This is made manifest in the attempts on the part of a number of political movements and mass media to discredit the dignity of separate candidates,” the MPs said.
“An atmosphere of scare and threats is being fanned in society,” the statement indicated. “The individuals and political parties that make their positions and views of current developments known are undergoing pressure and persecution.”
The MPs inform the Duma of an incident that occurred October 8 in the town of Bendery where a group of unknown people triggered riots and attacks on the activists of the Proryv /Breakthrough/ party.
“There’s a growing concern over the fact that members of the LDPR Dniester region party are subjected to an ever-increasing pressure for joining the movement With Russia Into the Future and in connection with the passage of decisions on the election,” the statement said.
The MPs say they are concerned by “persistent attempts on the part of the Dniester Republic’s Central Electoral Commission to discredit the election process and to create a fictitious precedent for denying registration to Anatoly Kaminsky, who is the leader of the Rejuvenation Party and Supreme Soviet speaker.”
“Practical implementation of such manipulations and electoral technologies gets active support from the mass media, including the Dniester Republic’s state television,” the MPs said. “The media encroach on legislation systemically and purposefully.”
“It is quite obvious that such actions inflict damage on the reputation of the Dniester Republic’s statehood and its democratic institutions,” the statement said. “This country is losing credibility in the eyes of our friends and partners, Russia in the first place.”
“Putting up with a situation of this kind is simply impossible,” the MPs said.