The persons who want to compete for the post of mayor of the municipalities of Chisinau and Balti and for member of the Chisinau and Balti municipal councils and district councils can submit the required documents until October 6 inclusive. For electoral districts of the second level – mayor’s offices and town and village councils - applications can be filed as from September 26. The documents are examined by the district electoral council during seven days of the reception day, IPN reports.

Under the Election Code, if the presented documents do not meet the legal requirements, the district electoral council refuses to register the candidate as an election contender, adopting an argued decision that is communicated to those concerned within 24 hours of the adoption.

To run for mayor, the citizens of the Republic of Moldova must be at least 23 and have at least general education. For the post of councilor, the minimum age is 18. A person can run on behalf of a party, an electoral bloc or independently. The citizens can also run concomitantly for mayor and for local councilor, but not in several constituencies of the same level.

To run as an independent candidate for mayor, the person must collect signatures from 1% of the voters, but not fewer than 100 signatures. To run as an independent candidate for local councilor, the person needs to secure the support of 2% of the voters from the constituency divided to the number of seats on the given councilor, but not fewer than 50 signatures.

A voter can sign in favor of a number of independent candidates, including for a number of elective posts, but cannot support the same candidate for two and more times. Signatures can be collected by the candidates or by members of the initiative group that supports them.

The subscription lists issued by the district electoral council must be returned completed to the council by October 6 inclusive. They are checked by the council together with the documents presented for registration as election contender.

The lists of candidates for local councilor are compiled by observing the minimum representation quota of 40% for both genders and the formula “minimum four candidates of the same sex per each ten places”.

After the time limit for the registration of candidates expires, the electoral council publishes the full list of registered candidates for mayor or for local councilor. The council ensures the public’s access to the property and interest statements of the registered election contenders at its head office or by using other information means.