Experts of the Association for Participatory Democracy ADEPT said the elections to choose deputies that took place in ATU Gagauzia on September 19 and the runoff vote of October 3 were generally held in a peaceful atmosphere, by obeying the law.
In a news conference at IPN, Ina Vrînceanu, ADEPT project coordinator, said that nine members of an electoral bloc, a person representing a political party and 25 independents entered the new legislative body. Most of the deputies of the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia since 1995 have been independents. On election day, over 113,000 voters cast their ballots in the 35 constituencies. The figure is by over 8,000 lower than in the elections of 2016 and this is also due to the migration of the population. The voter turnout was lower than in 2016. However, the number of voters added to additional rolls was by 24% higher.
The Central Election Commission of Gagauzia registered 123 candidates - 23 designated by political partied and 100 independents. Two candidates withdrew. Forty-six candidates earlier ran in elections, primarily in those of 2016. The average age of candidates was 48 years, while of the deputies who entered the People’s Assembly was 49. Only 18 of the 123 candidates are women. This is due to the fact that the elections are held based on the single-member system that excludes the necessity of ensuring a gender quota. Ten of the candidates are millionaires in lei. Most of them form part of the category of persons with incomes ranging between 200,000 lei and 1 million lei. Only six candidates declared zero incomes, but none of them entered the legislative body of Gagauzia.
Eighteen deputies were elected on September 19 and another 11 were elected on October 3. Six deputies were elected on October 3 as a result of rerun elections. The number of female deputies decreased almost twice on 2016 – from four to two in 2021. The young people are also underrepresented. Only three of the deputies are aged between 21 and 35. This is about 8% of the total. Almost 51% of 35 deputies are older than 51.
ADEPT executive director Igor Boțan said the news conference was held on the occasion of an event that will take place this Friday - the first meeting of the new composition of the People’s Assembly. The seventh legislature of the People’s Assembly was elected in the ordinary elections held recently in Gagauzia. The elections were to take place in the first half of the year, but were put off owing to the pandemic situation and to the expiry of the mandate of the CEC of Gagauzia. They were postponed twice. It was initially suggested holding the elections at the end of March, but the set date went against the Election Code of Gagauzia as the CEC’s mandate ended and the three months after the expiry of the mandate during which elections could be organized also ended. The elections were later arranged for May 16, but Moldova’s Parliament declared a state of emergency for April 1 – May 30 and the People’s Assembly decided to transfer the election day to September 19.
More data about the elections in Gagauz and other elections can be seen on the ADEP-managed website alegeri.md.
