Andrey Safonov is a politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 from Transnistria

Transnistria

Transnistria is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine...

. He lives in Bender

Bender, Moldova

Bender or Bendery, also known as Tighina is a city within the internationally recognized borders of Moldova under de facto control of the unrecognized Transnistria Republic since 1992...

, Transnistria's second largest city.

Biography

He ran for president against incumbent

Incumbent

The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...

 president

President

A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...

 Igor Smirnov

Igor Smirnov

Igor Nikolaevich Smirnov , is the President of the internationally unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic, also known as Transnistria. He has held this post since 1990.- Childhood :...

 in the election

Transnistrian presidential election, 2006

The 2006 presidential election in Transnistria was held on December 10 of that year. Incumbent President Igor Smirnov won despite opposition having stiffened during the final weeks of the campaign...

 held on December 10, 2006, and came in third place with 3.9% of the vote.

He is a former teacher of literature and a former member of the parliament of the MSSR

Moldavian SSR

The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic , commonly abbreviated to Moldavian SSR or MSSR, was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union...

 (Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic), within the USSR

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

. 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.

External links

• Novaia Gazeta (in Russian)
• Tiraspol Times: "Outspoken Smirnov-critic Safonov launches presidential bid" (in English)