| Election Name: | 1996 Transnistrian presidential election |
| Country: | Transnistria |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1991 Transnistrian presidential election |
| Previous Year: | 1991 |
| Next Election: | 2001 Transnistrian presidential election |
| Next Year: | 2001 |
| Election Date: | 22 December 1996 |
| Image1 Size: | 150x150px |
| Nominee1: | Igor Smirnov |
| Party1: | Independent politician |
| Running Mate1: | Alexandru Caraman |
| Percentage1: | 71.94% |
| Nominee2: | Vladimir Malakhov |
| Party2: | Independent politician |
| Running Mate2: | Vasily Protsenko |
| Percentage2: | 19.84% |
| President | |
| Before Election: | Igor Smirnov |
| Before Party: | Independent politician |
| After Election: | Igor Smirnov |
| After Party: | Independent politician |
Presidential elections were held in the breakaway republic of Transnistria on 22 December, 1996. They were won by the incumbent Igor Smirnov, who ruled Transnistria since 1991. Smirnov's only opponent was Vladimir Malakhov, who was beaten by Smirnov, 72% to 20%.[1] [2]
On 2 November, it was reported that Transnistria's central electoral commission had registered only two candidates for the election. Six others, including head of the Tiraspol city council Vitalii Glebov, were unable to collect the necessary 10,000 signatures.[3]
Before the election, Malakhov claimed that his campaign was receiving "unequal treatment" from the media. He was considering withdrawing from the race, which would invalidate the election, the constitution requiring at least 2 candidates for the election to be able to occur. However, the Parliament of Transnistria amended the constitution, so that Smirnov could get elected unopposed. Malakhov then decided to continue his campaign.[4]
|-! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" width=250|Candidate! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" width=250|Vice-pres. candidate! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" |Votes! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" |%|-| style="text-align: left" | Igor Smirnov| style="text-align: left" | Alexandru Caraman| | 71.94|-|-| style="text-align: left" | Vladimir Malakhov| style="text-align: left" | Vasily Protsenko| | 19.84|-|-|style="background-color:#f2f2f2;text-align:left;" colspan=2|None of the above, blank or invalid|style="background-color:#f2f2f2" ||style="background-color:#f2f2f2" |8.22|-| style="background-color: #f2f2f2; text-align: left; font-weight: bold" colspan=2| Total (turnout 57.1%)| style="background-color: #f2f2f2; font-weight: bold" | | style="background-color: #f2f2f2; font-weight: bold" | 100.0%|-| style="text-align: left" colspan="5" | Sources: Olvia Press – Transnistrian press agency Open Media Research Institute|}
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".[5]