“Mayors are elected today in over 270 villages and towns of Moldova. I call on all the citizens to go to the polls and decide who should manage their locality,” said President Maia Sandu, urging the people to decide freely how they want their locality to look like, IPN reports.

“The people need local public authorities that correctly and efficiently manage the locality’s budget and mayors who solve the problems encountered by the inhabitants. Our villages and towns can develop only if they are led by honest mayors who know to grow the locality’s budget by creating conditions for developing businesses and attracting projects. The Moldovans deserve to have living conditions at home similar to those enjoyed in the European countries, regardless of the region in which they live. Moldova deserves to be a member of the European Union and we can achieve this objective only together – the central administration, the local administration and all the citizens,” stated President Sandu.

Local runoffs are taking place in 273 localities of Moldova, where none of the candidates for mayor polled more than half of the valid votes cast in the first round of voting. In another eight localities where the elections were invalidated, the local elections are rerun today.

Polls close at 09.00 p.m.