 Safonov ran for president against incumbent president Igor Smirnov in the election held on December 10, 2006, and came third with 3.9% of the vote.He is a former teacher of literature and a former member of the parliament of the MSSR (Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic), within the USSR.After Transnistria's declaration of independence, September 2, 1990, he founded the official news agency "Olvia Press".