Thirteen electoral precincts in Moldova's autonomous territory of Gagauzia produced winners in the first round of elections in the Gagauz legislative body, the People's Assembly, which was held on Sunday, September 9, Info-Prim Neo learned from the Gagauz Election Commission head Svetlana Mironova. In 22 other precincts round-offs will be held in a fortnight. Svetlana Mironova said that roughly 53,000 people cast votes in the first round, meaning that the voter turnout met the validation threshold of one-third. Mihail Sirkeli, the head of the local NGO Piligrim-Demo” stated that the organization's observers didn't register serious violations on election day. On Sunday morning a number of media outlets reported that some candidates failed to take down their electoral posters on election day. The People's Assembly is composed of 35 members elected for a four-year term. A total of 164 candidates registered for the race, including 84 candidates proposed by political parties and 80 independents. Most candidates were proposed by the Communist Party.