Transdniestr former parliament speaker wins presidential election

PanARMENIAN.Net - The ex-speaker of the Transdniestr parliament, Yevgeny Shevchuk, will become the breakaway republic's second president after garnering 73.88 percent of the vote in Sunday's, Dec 25 runoff election, a source in Transdniestr's Central Election Commission told RIA Novosti, citing preliminary results.

His opponent, Supreme Council Chairman Anatoly Kaminsky, received 19.67 percent of the vote. Another 4.45 percent of those casting ballots voted against both candidates.

The winner of the election will serve as Transdniestr's president for the next five years.

The Central Election Commission says it will announce official, preliminary results of the vote count at 10:00 a.m. local time on Monday. The final results will be available in three days, the commission said. Shevchuk and Kaminsky faced off in the runoff after taking 38.55 percent and 26.3 percent of the vote respectively in the first round on December 11.

Outgoing president Igor Smirnov garnered 24.66 percent of the vote in the first round. Election officials rejected his appeal to declare the vote invalid, saying there were no grounds to do so, RIA Novosti reported.

The Russian-speaking region gained de facto independence from Moldova in 1992. A joint peacekeeping force of the Russian, Moldovan and Transdniestr contingents has been deployed in the area.

Transdniestr is seeking full independence, but Moldova says it is only prepared to allow autonomy.