The 2023 Gagauz gubernatorial election was held on 30 April and 14 May 2023 on the territory of the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia, part of the Republic of Moldova. The position of Governor (Başkan) of Gagauzia represents one of the highest positions in the autonomy, also having the position of a member of the Government of the Republic of Moldova ex officio.
Background Gagauzia's autonomy is guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova and regulated by the Gagauz Autonomy Act of 1994. Irina Vlah was elected on 22 March 2015 as the Başkan of Gagauzia and won her second mandate in 2019. She is no longer eligible for a third term.
Following the statements by which Irina Vlah admitted that the official language of the Republic of Moldova is Romanian, PSRM leader Igor Dodon announced that the socialists are withdrawing their support for the governor of Gagauzia. Irina Vlah is an ex-officio member of the government of the Republic of Moldova throughout her mandate, being a member of the cabinets of Chiril Gaburici (2015), Valeriu Streleț (2015–2016), Pavel Filip (2016–2019), Maia Sandu (2019), Ion Chicu (2019–2021), Natalia Gavrilița (2021–2023) and Dorin Recean (2023–present).
Candidates In the 2023 election, eight candidates registered, including one party member and seven independent candidates:
CandidatePolitical partyPositions heldEndorsed byRef.Independent Member of the Moldovan Parliament (2014–2018) Mayor of Comrat (2004–2014)Grigorii UzunIndependentMember of the Moldovan Parliament (2021)Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM) Igor Dodon, 5th President of Moldova (2016–2020)Mihail FormuzalIndependentGovernor of Gagauzia (2006–2015)Victor Petrioglu, OP mayor of VulcăneștiVictor PetrovIndependentMember of the People's Assembly of Gagauzia (since 2021)Vasile Bolea, Member of the Moldovan Parliament for BCSDumitru CroitorIndependentAmbassador to Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan (since 2019) Governor of Gagauzia (1999–2002)Serghei CernevIndependentMember of the People's Assembly of GagauziaEvghenia GuțulȘor PartyNo previous officesȘor PartySerghei CimpoieșIndependentMember of the People's Assembly of Gagauzia (since 2021)
Opinion polls
Dates conductedPolling firmSample sizePetrovGuțulUzunFormuzalCroitorCimpoieșCernevLead (2nd round) CEC – –52.3 47.7 –4.6 (1st round) CEC – 16.226.5 26.4 9.0 3.5 10.4 5.7 2.30.1Intellect Group-SPERO9842216248616212iData1,02312.718.320.511.110.415.28.33.52.2Başkan Elections 20232,0604618147544228Başkan Elections 20231,050551611106239
Results
Controversies
The election was allegedly manipulated by vote buying influenced by Russia that led to the victory of Guțul. The pan-European think tank European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) reported that Russia spent four million euros to buy 27,000 votes during the election, which helped secure Guțul's victory, who the ECFR noted was an affiliate of Moldovan pro-Russian fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor. Following the election, Moldova's National Anti-Corruption Center (CNA) initiated a criminal case into "corrupting voters and violating the way of managing the financial means of political parties or electoral funds".
On 22 May, the Comrat Court of Appeal recognized the results of the election and Guțul's victory. This was despite the CNA and the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) of Moldova having questioned the integrity of the electoral process. In early May, the CEC had provided Gagauzia's regional electoral commission documents alleging violations of electoral legislation, with most of them having been ignored by the Gagauz authorities as Polish Centre for Eastern Studies political analyst Kamil Całus described. The day after the election, the CEC also reported at least eight law violations on campaign financing. As a result, CNA agents entered the premises of the Gagauz electoral commission on 16 May, seizing the voter lists. This was part of an investigation that had begun in late April regarding vote buying and the illegal financing of one of the election's candidates by an "organized criminal group", which Całus argued clearly referred to affiliates of Shor.
Some sectors of the Romanian press criticised the fact that all the candidates were pro-Russian, anti-Romanian and Eurosceptic.
References