Central Electoral Commission: 895 mayors out of 898 ones elected at runoff election of general local polls in Moldova

Chisinau, 20 November /MOLDPRES/ - As many as 895 mayors out of those 898  ones have been elected at the runoff election of the general local polls. The president of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), Angelica Caraman, unveiled information to this effect at a news conference.  
According to preliminary data, about 314,000 electors voted in the settlements where the mayors had been elected at the runoff election of the general local polls and where the repeated voting took place, of whom 55 per cent are women and 45 per cent – men.
At the runoff election, the distribution of the mayor mandates, according to the political criterion, looks as follows: Action and Solidarity Party – 66 mandates, Party of Socialists – 41, independent candidates – 32, European Social Democratic Party – 30, Party of Development Consolidation of Moldova – 22, Revival Party – 17, Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova – 11, Dignity and Truth Platform – 8, Respect Moldova Movement – 8, Our Party – 6, etc.  
The CEC leadership stressed that repeated voting for local councils had taken place in eight settlements of Moldova and in six of these settlements – for mayors too.  ‘’The repeated voting is regarded as valid no matter the number of voters who participated in the ballot. Therefore, the citizens with right to vote from those eight settlements elected their councilors in the local councils and in five settlements – the mayors as well,’’ Angelica Caraman said.  
Thus, at the general local elections held on 5 November this year and subsequently, at the runoff election on 19 November 2023, 895 out of 898 mayors were elected. The second round of the runoff election will be held in the Aluatu village, Taraclia district and as for the villages Chioselia Rusa and Cotovscoe from the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia, CEC instructed the organization of partial elections on 3 March 2024.  
Following the ballot, on a period of 48 hours after the closing of the polling stations, the constituency electoral councils are to submit to CEC the official reports on the tabulation of the voting results. ‘’Subsequently, the Commission will centralize the results of the voting and will approve, through decision, the official report on the tabulation of the results of the general local elections. The lawfulness of the local polls will be confirmed by the concerned constituency local councils, which will declare the candidates elected and will assign and validate the mandates of the mayors elected. As for the settlements where the repeated voting for local councils took place, the mandates of the councilors will be validated and the list of alternate candidates will be confirmed. The person elected concomitantly to the office of mayor and local councilor must submit to the constituency electoral council his/her consent to be validated in one of these two positions,’’ Angelica Caraman said.   
During three months after the confirmation of the elections’ results, the ballot papers and the electoral lists are preserved at the territorial police inspectorates, after which they are destroyed.