If gubernatorial elections were held next Sunday in the Gagauz autonomy, as many as 50.9% of votes would go to incumbent Irina Vlah, according to a Vox Populi poll presented today by the Association of Sociologists and Demographers.  

Her contestants are all in the one-digit range, with Nikolai Dudoglo scoring 5.3%, Serghei Anastasov 3.8%, Vladimir Kıssa 2.6%, Fiodor Gagauz 1.5%, Ivanna Köksal 1.4%, Dmitri Konstantinov 1.3%, Ivan Topal 1.1%, Aleksandr Tarnavski 1%, and other candidates would poll under 1%. At the same time, 29% of respondents said they didn’t know who to vote for.

72% of respondents said they would go to vote, 16% said they would likely vote, 6% would not show up, 4% would most certainly not vote, and 3% were not sure.

Asked what qualities a governor should possess, 60% answered he/she should be first of a good manager, and 37% sait it’s most important for him/her to be a skilful, well-connected politician.

The main issue that a governor should address (49.4%) are the poor living standards. The governor should also act to reduce consumption prices, increase salaries and pensions, lower the retirement age, show increased attention to the disabled and pensioners, provide free transportation for children and pensioners, reduce drug prices, and raise child care benefits.

The poll was conducted during March 15-19 on a sample of 1,029 respondents representative for Gagauzia’s adult population.