Head of State Maia Sandu and Chairman of Parliament Igor Grosu held consultations with mayors of settlements in Gagauzia and members of the People’s Assembly of the region. Representatives of the president’s office announced this on April 24, noting that the meetings took place in the context of a deadlock that arose in the process of organizing elections in the autonomy.
What they say in the presidential administration
According to the presidency, during the meetings, the head of state and the speaker “reaffirmed the strong position of the central authorities in favor of organizing free and fair elections, emphasizing the need for transparency and compliance with national norms.” “The responsibility of central and regional authorities is to ensure fair elections in which residents of the autonomy can freely decide its future,” the presidency added.
The parties agreed to create a working group, including with the participation of representatives of central institutions, the People’s Assembly and mayors of the region, the purpose of which will be to develop the necessary decisions and create conditions for holding free and fair elections in Gagauzia as soon as possible.
What does the Speaker of Parliament say?
The Speaker of Parliament and leader of the ruling Action and Solidarity Party (PAS), Igor Grosu, explained that two meetings took place: one with the mayors of localities, the other with representatives of the deputies of the People’s Assembly.
“It’s not just about this topic. That is, it’s not just about the name. (…) There are questions related to the verification of future members of the Regional Election Commission. And we told them that we do not understand why, in the rest of the country, those nominated to be members of the bureau are subject to checks by the National Integrity Authority (ANI), the National Anti-Corruption Center (CNA) and the Information and Security Service (SIS). They tried to tell us that this shouldn’t happen to them. I replied that this argument does not work. Third: in the event of elections in Gagauzia, there is no ceiling on cash donations. I said it was a gift for the bandits. It cannot be that in the rest of the country during elections (…) we have a limit on cash and even on transfers, but in Gagauzia we do not. This doesn’t happen. Voter lists: in general elections a list of 125 thousand voters is used, in elections of the Bashkan and the People’s Assembly – 90 thousand. Fifth: there is no system for verifying the voter when he comes to the polling station and shows his ID,” Grosu said.
Later he told what they managed to agree on at the meetings. “We agreed as follows: they go home, and the deputies, with the participation of mayors, (…) civil society, the Central Election Commission, sit down together and develop what the People’s Assembly has not developed in a year. This should be a document about the features of the elections in ATU Gagauzia, so that this year we can hold elections to the assembly,” Grosu concluded.
Let us remind you that on April 15, the Central Election Commission submitted proposals to amend the Electoral Code for public consultations. The CEC proposes to retain the name “Central Electoral Council of Gagauzia” and reduce its composition from nine to seven members. At the same time, the CEC proposals provide for stricter conditions for candidates in elections in Gagauzia, including mandatory knowledge of the Romanian language for candidates for the position of Bashkan.
The legislative initiative appeared in the context of the electoral crisis, which has been ongoing in Gagauzia for more than a year. The mandate of the current People’s Assembly has expired, and elections have been repeatedly postponed and could not be organized due to a legal dispute over the name of the regional electoral body. The impasse stems from a discrepancy between the autonomy law, which uses the term “Central Election Commission,” and the national Electoral Code, adopted in December 2022, which uses the term “Central Electoral Council.”
Chisinau insists on harmonization of legislation and argues that the rules for organizing elections in the autonomy must be brought into line with the national regulatory framework. Comrat, on the contrary, insists that the autonomy must retain the right to independently form its own electoral body and organize elections on the basis of the law on its special status. Tensions increased after the Ministry of Justice asked the Constitutional Court to review the constitutionality of the provisions of the Law on the Special Legal Status of Gagauzia, which stipulate that the People’s Assembly approves the composition of the autonomy’s electoral body.
On April 3, the Southern Court of Appeal suspended the NSG decisions on the organization of the June 21 elections based on applications submitted by the Comrat Territorial Bureau of the State Chancellery. The NSG appealed this decision to the Supreme Court, arguing that the court ordered the suspension of administrative acts without proof of concrete and irreparable damage, and that the justification was based on “abstract risks” without assessing the real consequences of the suspension.
On April 22, the NSG adopted a declaration in which it demanded that parliament, the government and the courts stop “blocking the elections” on June 21, and directly appealed to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for diplomatic support. Parliament Chairman Igor Grosu previously rejected accusations of “sabotage” emanating from Comrat, saying that the autonomy authorities insist on violating the Electoral Code.
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