The Bălți Electoral Council has approved the content of the ballot to be used in the city’s mayoral runoff on December 19. Voters in Bălți will have the opportunity of choosing between independent Nikolai Grigorishin and Nicolae Chirilciuc of the Moldovan Patriots Party, said CEC secretary Alexandr Berlinschii.

After winning the first round with 48%, Shor Party’s Marina Tauber was removed from the race over campaign financing violations. The runner-up, Nikolai Grigorishin, was then supposed to face third-placed Boris Marcoci of the Action and Solidarity Party. But the latter bowed out, and so did the fourth-placed Alexandr Nesterovski of the Communist-Socialist Bloc. This leaves the fifth-placed Chirilciuc as the next in line to fight for the Bălți mayor’s seat.

Per the procedure, if one of the two candidates in the second round decides to withdraw at least seven days before the election, the runoff will be held between the remaining candidate and the next candidate in line from the first round.