The mandate of the current composition of the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia expires on January 20, when it is exactly four years of the convocation of its first sitting. Under the electoral legislation, the elections take place within three months of the expiration of the mandate. The elections were set for April 4.
Contacted by IPN for details, executive director of the Association for Participatory Democracy ADEPT Igor Boţan said the mandate of the Central Election Commission of Comrat expired on December 24. The Electoral Code of Gagauzia provides that if the election campaign starts and the composition of the Commission hadn’t been changed, the elections are organized by the current composition. “Most probably, the Commission will be in the situation to organize the elections. But the election campaign was to start during the mandate. It didn’t happen so and this is a problem,” stated Igor Boțan.
The matter concerning the composition of the Electoral Commission of Gagauzia was on the agenda of the January 19 meeting of the People’s Assembly, but was excluded, alongside other bills, including the amendment of the Electoral Code, after the deputies could not reach a consensus on the adoption of the budget of Gagauzia for 2021 and decided to close the sitting.
Ordinary elections to the People’s Assembly, the local legislative body, were held in Moldova’s Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia on November 20, 2016. There were elected 34 deputies of the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia of the sixth legislature: five representing the Party of Socialists, one representing the Democratic Party and 28 independent. The 35th seat was won by a Party of Socialists’ candidate in the new elections of June 24, 2018.
