[1] The other candidates were Tom Zenovich, mayor of Bender (the second largest city in the country), and Alexander Radchenko of the Power to the People party, which advocated reunion with Moldova.

The authorities refused to register one potential presidential candidate and dismissed another from his job as mayor of Bender prior to the election.

Authorities reportedly threatened workers with job loss and students with expulsion from their universities if they did not vote for the incumbent, Igor Smirnov.

Local observers reported that the actual voting was unfair, with considerable ballot box stuffing.

"[2] According to an article by the ethnic Russian researcher from Moldova Alla Skvortsova from 2002, "polls and elections in the PMR may to some extent have been rigged".