Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic - The February 1990 Elections

The February 1990 Elections

The February 1990 elections proved to be a turning point in the conflict between Moldova and Transnistria. In these elections national revivalists won a large number of seats in the Republican Supreme Soviet (republican legislature) as well as the Chisinau city soviet while OSTK supporters won an overwhelming victory in the city soviets of the big cities in the east. With the communist party severely weakened, the OSTK in essence took control of local government in Transnistria.

The elections themselves were to unfold with an unprecedented level of freedom. Throughout the Soviet Union elections in 1990 brought a rush of new blood into Soviet government and Moldova was no exception. The registration of candidates was done in a new and more open manner and candidates had an unprecedented freedom to campaign and distinguish themselves from competitors. All in all one specialist has judged the 1990 elections in Moldova to be relatively "quite open."

When the votes were counted after February 25, republic wide, the big winner was the Popular Front of Moldova and their allies in the reformist wing of the Communist Party of Moldova. Of the 380 seats in the Supreme Soviet of the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic, the Popular Front would control 101, or about 27 percent. The internationalists had a strong showing as well, capturing almost 80 seats—21 percent. However, while both sides claimed the support of those not formally tied to their organizations, the Popular Front had considerably more allies. The Communist Party had a more disappointing if not insignificant showing, with 53 of the parliamentary seats going to members of the party apparatus and with its members comprising 83 percent of those elected. However, what is of interest to this chapter is that, in 1990 as the republic polarized to the point of schism in September, those apparatus workers that were elected quickly aligned themselves with either the Popular Front and the parliamentary leadership, or with the OSTK-led opposition. There was no significant correlation between apparatus work and either movement.

In Transnistria the OSTK was extremely successful. The organization was particularly popular in the conservative city of Tiraspol. Looking at the electoral adds run in the Tiraspol Dnestrovskaia pravda reveals that of the 40 people who ran ads in that newspaper between January and March 1990, 22 (55 percent) mentioned membership of the OSTK, 21 (95 percent) of which won their seats. Of the 18 that did not mention the OSTK in their ads, only 3 (16 percent) won their seats. Moreover, in this election Igor Smirnov, the current president of the Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic, first successfully ran for public office. To illustrate the point that the election signaled the change in city leadership from that of the communist party to that of the OSTK, it is important to note that Smirnov ran for the position of chair city soviet (head of local government) against the secretary of the city communist party committee; in the March 23rd session that decided the issue Smirnov took the chairmanship with 86 of the 134 votes, defeating Leonid Turcan with 64% of the vote. Events in Bender and Ribnita were similar, with OSTK leaders taking control of local government. The OSTK had only a tenuous hold, however, on the city government of Dubasari and was a minority in some of the more rural districts.