Presidential elections were held in the breakaway republic of

Transnistria Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), is an unrecognised breakaway state that is internationally recognised as a part of Moldova. Transnistria controls most of the narrow strip of land between the Dniester riv ...

on 22 December, 1996. They were won by the incumbent

Igor Smirnov Igor Smirnov may refer to: *Igor Smirnov (politician) (born 1941), president of the unrecognized Transdniestrian Moldovan Republic *Igor Smirnov (scientist) (1951–2004), controversial Russian mind control researcher See also * Igor Mirnov Igor ...

, who ruled Transnistria since 1991. Smirnov's only opponent was Vladimir Malakhov, who was beaten by Smirnov, 72% to 20%. On 2 November, it was reported that Transnistria's central electoral commission had registered only two candidates for the election. Six others, including head of the

Tiraspol Tiraspol or Tirișpolea ( ro, Tiraspol, Moldovan Cyrillic: Тираспол, ; russian: Тира́споль, ; uk, Тирасполь, Tyraspol') is the capital of Transnistria (''de facto''), a breakaway state of Moldova, where it is the th ...

city council Vitalii Glebov, were unable to collect the necessary 10,000 signatures. Before the election, Malakhov claimed that his campaign was receiving "unequal treatment" from the media. He was considering withdrawing from the race, which would invalidate the election, the constitution requiring at least 2 candidates for the election to be able to occur. However, the

Parliament of Transnistria The Supreme Council of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic ( ro, Sovietul Suprem al Republicii Moldovenești Nistrene, Moldovan Cyrillic: Советул Супрем ал Републичий Молдовенешть Нистрене; russian ...

amended the constitution, so that Smirnov could get elected unopposed. Malakhov then decided to continue his campaign.Open Media Research Institute
Daily Digest, No. 245, 19 Dec 96
/ref>

Results

, - ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" width=250, Candidate ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" width=250, Vice-pres. candidate ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Votes ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , % , - , style="text-align: left" ,

, style="text-align: left" ,

Alexandru Caraman Aleksandr Akimovich Karaman (russian: Алекса́ндр Аки́мович Карама́н, ; born 26 July 1956) is a Transnistrian politician and later the Foreign Minister of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) during August 2014. He was the ...

, , 71.94 , - , - , style="text-align: left" , Vladimir Malakhov , style="text-align: left" , Vasily Protsenko , , 19.84 , - , - , style="background-color:#f2f2f2;text-align:left;" colspan=2,

None of the above "None of the above" (NOTA), or none for short, also known as "against all" or a "scratch" vote, is a ballot option in some jurisdictions or organizations, designed to allow the voter to indicate disapproval of the candidates in a voting system. ...

, blank or invalid , style="background-color:#f2f2f2" , , style="background-color:#f2f2f2" , 8.22 , - , style="background-color: #f2f2f2; text-align: left; font-weight: bold" colspan=2, Total (turnout 57.1%) , style="background-color: #f2f2f2; font-weight: bold" , , style="background-color: #f2f2f2; font-weight: bold" , 100.0% , - , style="text-align: left" colspan="5" , Sources
Olvia Press – Transnistrian press agencyOpen Media Research Institute

References

{{Moldova-election-stub 1996 elections in Moldova Elections in Transnistria 1996 in Transnistria