Andrei Safonov (russian: Андре́й Миха́йлович Сафо́нов; born 6 June 1964) is a

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

from

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 ...

. He lives in Bender, Transnistria's second largest city.

Biography

Safonov ran for president against

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an official, office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seek ...

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

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 Igo ...

in the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

held on December 10, 2006, and came third with 3.9% of the vote.Transdnestr Central Election Commission announces final results on presidential election
He is a former teacher of literature and a former member of the parliament of the MSSR (Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic), within the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. After Transnistria's declaration of independence, September 2, 1990, he founded the official news agency ''Olvia Press''. He was subsequently appointed Minister of Education, Science and Culture, a post he held until 1999 when he formed an opposition movement to Igor Smirnov and an opposition newspaper, founded in 2000, called ''Novaia Gazeta''.

References

External links

Novaia Gazeta
(in Russian)
Tiraspol Times: "Outspoken Smirnov-critic Safonov launches presidential bid"
(in English) 1964 births Living people Moldovan journalists Male journalists Transnistrian politicians Moldovan MPs 1990–1994 {{Moldova-politician-stub