The 2006 Sovereignty Referendum in Transnistria: A Device for Electoral Advantage

Abstract On 17 September 2006, the leadership of Transnistria unilaterally held a sovereignty referendum, despite knowing it would not be implemented. It means it was driven by other motives than the reallocation of sovereignty. Drawing on a new suite of sources, including interviews with Transnistrian elites and Russian journalism, this paper argues that the primary motivation behind the poll was the desire of Transnistria’s President Igor Smirnov to domestically empower himself to gain the electoral advantage in the imminent presidential elections. The study also provides a framework of the motivations for calling of unilateral sovereignty referendums in de facto states.