Andrey Safonov's candidacy was at first rejected on the basis of insufficient and allegedly fraudulent signatures,[1] but on 30 November the Tiraspol law court accepted it.

[2] Andrey Safonov, one of the opposition candidates, suggested that election results were rigged in favour of the incumbent leader.

[3] “It is not clear to me why, according to exit polls conducted by the Pridnestrovian Independent Center for Analytical Research “New Century”, President Smirnov received 63.34%, and according to official data this figure is much higher.

Secondly, the level of protest voting in the PMR is generally traditionally higher,” said opposition candidate Andrei Safonov.

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