themselves from Transnistria, gave moral support, weapons and ammunition to PMR separatists. Eventually a number of Red Army soldiers joined the PMR Army. In December 1991 Smirnov beat Grigorii Marakutsa, his successor as chairman of the PMSSR Supreme Soviet and another challenger in an election for president of the Pridnestrovian Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic. He won with 64% of the vote. Smirnov after the war Igor Smirnov won three further elections after 1991. On 23 December 1996, he took 72% of the vote against 20% for Vladimir Malakhov and on December 9, 2001, he took 81.9% of the vote against 6.7% for Tom Zenovich and 4.6% for Alexander Radchenko. On December 10, 2006, Smirnov was re-elected for a third time with 82.4% of the vote. His Communist Party opponent, Nadezhda Bondarenko got only 8.1% of the vote. Andrey Safonov, owner and editor of the Opposition newspaper Novaia gazeta got 3.9% and Renewal Party MP Peter Tomaily, standing as an independent candidate, got 2.1%. 1.6% voted for "none of the above" and 1.9% of the ballot papers were blank or spoiled. Turnout was 66.1%. None of these elections were recognized by the international community, which does not recognize the legality of the Transnistrian authorities and called for democratic elections for a self-governing territory within the boundaries of Moldova. He organized a referendum on 17 September 2006 where the Transnistrian population was asked whether Transnistria should be reintegrated into Moldova (which was rejected) or remain independent and join Russia in the future (which was approved). Smirnov did more references to a possible accession of Transnistria into Russia during his rule. In the December 2011 elections, Igor Smirnov came in third with 24.82% of the vote. He trailed the chairman of the Supreme Soviet, Anatolii Kaminskii, and the former chairman of that body, Evgenii Shevchuk.Центризбирком Приднестровья огласил предварительные результаты голосования на выборах Президента ПМР, "Новый День", 15 December 2011 In the election, leaders of United Russia, the ruling political party of Russia, voiced a lack of confidence in Smirnov and supported the campaign of Anatolii Kaminskii. Smirnov has announced that he will retire from politics when the Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic obtains international recognition as a sovereign state and has called this goal his life's work. His last vice president was Aleksandr Ivanovich Korolyov. Cabinet The following table shows Smirnov's cabinet at the end of his time in office. See also Politics of Transnistria