In Moldova today, November 5, general local elections are being held. Polling stations opened at 7:00 (8:00 Moscow time) and will remain open until 21:00 (22:00 Moscow time). Citizens of the republic will have to elect 898 mayors (mayors) and 11,058 local councilors.
Voting takes place in all administrative-territorial units of the country, with the exception of settlements on the left bank of the Dniester and the city of Bendery (Transnistria). It is expected that about 2 million 700 thousand voters will take part in them.
More than 57 thousand candidates from 35 political parties and one electoral bloc, as well as 1,174 independent candidates, registered to participate in these elections. For elections to be recognized as valid, at least a quarter of the voters included in the lists for each electoral district must take part in them. There will also be a video recording system at polling stations.
The largest number of candidates for the post of mayor are in Chisinau and Comrat (autonomous territorial entity of Gagauzia) – 35 and 57, respectively. Here the voting papers are printed in the form of brochures.
On Friday, November 3, the Commission for Emergency Situations, at the request of the Information and Security Service (ISS) of Moldova, decided to deregister all candidates of the opposition political party “Chance”. They were accused of having a connection with a fugitive businessman Ilan Shor (convicted in absentia for financial crimes – EADaily), whose eponymous party, Shor, was previously declared unconstitutional for illegal financing. The ISS claims that allegedly through them “Russia planned to influence the electoral process in Moldova”.
The Chance party was created on the basis of the structures of the liquidated Shor; it had almost the same number of candidates (652 people) as the ruling presidential party Action and Solidarity (PDS). All ballot papers now have their candidates stamped RETRAS (Excluded).
Let us recall that local elections in Moldova are an important political event, since forces that have a certain influence in the regions are fighting for seats in government with an eye on the future presidential elections (to be held in 2024) and the subsequent parliamentary elections.
The last general local elections took place on 20 October 2019. The term of office of local elected officials is 4 years.
Representatives of the opposition, both left and right, are confident that the regime of Sandu and the PAS has prepared a massive falsification in order to maintain positions on the ground. In the context of this, it is worth noting that there will be no exit polling for these elections. Against this background, there are calls for consolidation and readiness to protest in order to “to defend democracy and free will”.
2023-11-05 07:20:00
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