The people living in the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia go to the polls to elect their Bashkan (Governor) on April 30. A number of 65 polling stations were opened for the purpose in 26 localities. The post of Bashkan is disputed by eight contenders, IPN reports.

For the Bashkan election to be validated, the voter turnout must be not less than 50% of the electors put on voter rolls. This is about 47,000 citizens from Gagauzia of the over 92,000 put on the registers of electors.

The Central Election Commission in Comrat ordered to print 93,451 ballots: 3,769 in the Gagauz language, 3,398 in the Romanian language and 86,284 in Russian. The cost of a ballot is 0.95 lei.

The eight candidates running for Bashkan are: Nicolai Dudoglo, Grigorii Uzun, Mihail Formuzal, Victor Petrov, Dmitrii Croitor, Sergei Chernev, Yevgenia Guțul, and Sergei Cimpoieș.

The same day, partial elections to the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia will be held, in Constituency No. 9 Vulcănești and in Constituency No. 17 Cioc-Maidan. As many as 5,314 ballots were printed for these elections.

The regional elections in Gagauzia will be overseen by 75 international observers who were accredited by the Central Election Commission.

Incumbent Bashkan Irina Vlah can no longer run for a new term in office as she held office for two consecutive times.