Moldova's citizens expected to vote to elect MPs

Parliamentary elections take place in Moldova, during which 101 lawmakers are to be elected to the parliament of the 12th legislative period. The election will be declared valid if at least one-third of the voters participate. The voting process starts at 07:00 and will end at 21:00.

During the election, citizens can vote at 2,274 polling stations opened across the territory of Moldova and abroad.

For the parliamentary elections, the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) has organized 1,961 polling stations in the country, 12 of which are for citizens from the left bank of the Dniester. In total, over 25,000 electoral officials will be active at the polling stations.

For the first time in this type of election, voters from ten countries will have the option to vote by mail, as an alternative to voting in person. The CEC has approved the list of 301 polling stations abroad, in 41 countries, including four special stations for processing mail-in votes. Compared to the 2024 elections, 69 additional stations have been established for direct voting.

Most polling stations are organized in Italy – 75, Germany – 36, France – 26, the United Kingdom – 24, and Romania – 23. Their locations can be found on the Commission's website and on the website www.diaspora.cec.md.

At this election, over 2,055 citizens have voted by mail. Most envelopes were received by the electoral bureau in Washington – 1,162, followed by Ottawa – 555, Stockholm – 286 and Tokyo – 52. The deadline for the receipt expired on September 26 at 18:00, according to the host country's time zone.

The envelopes received have been systematized and stored in sealed ballot boxes, which will be opened only after all polling stations close in the concerned country.

The CEC printed over 2,772,255 ballots for the parliamentary elections, of which 2,117,039 in Romanian, 649,573 in Russian, 3,400 in Gagauz, 1,827 in Bulgarian, and 416 in Romani.

As for the polling stations organized for the settlements from the left bank of Dniester, the total print run is 23,500 ballots, of which 14,500 in Romanian and 9,000 in Russian.

The cost of one ballot is 0.69 lei, with a total cost amounting to 1,929,070.95 lei.

The ballot contains 23 quadrilaterals. Its width is 14 cm, and its length is 58.7 cm. The ballot has been printed on opaque paper (matte), in a cerulean blue color. The electoral competitors are listed on the ballot in uppercase letters of the same size and font, in the order established by the CEC.

How Moldovan Citizens Can Vote

On election day, citizens in and outside the country can vote using their identity cards or passports. In total, about 42,000 young people will be able to vote for the first time at these elections.

The elections will be monitored by 3,423 observers. Out of the total number 2,496 national observers represent eight civic associations from the country. Most observers were accredited at a request by the Promo-LEX Association and the Union of Lawyers of Moldova.

At the same time, CEC accredited 912 international observers. They represent 22 diplomatic missions accredited in Moldova (149 people), 15 foreign electoral authorities (28 people), 12 international associations (269 people), the OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission (272 people), the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (8 people), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (3 people), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (28 people), the European Parliament (14 people), the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (118 people), the Parliament of Ukraine (15 people), and the International Organization of La Francophonie (8 people).

They will oversee the voting procedure, ballot counting and the tabulation of results.

Electoral Contenders

A number of 23 electoral contenders were registered out of a total of 32 applications were registered in the electoral race: 15 political parties, four electoral blocs and four independent candidates.

Action and Solidarity Party

Democracy at Home Party

Coalition for Unity and Well-being

Andrei Nastase, independent candidate

Liberal Democrats Alliance for Europe

Olesea Stamate, independent candidate

European Social Democratic Party

National Moldovan Party

Patriotic Electoral Bloc of Socialists, Communists, Heart and Future of Moldova

Alternative Electoral Bloc

Respect Moldova Movement

Together Electoral Bloc

League of Cities and Communes

Alliance for the Union of Romanians

Victoria Sanduta, independent candidate

Moldovans Alliance

Greater Moldova Party - withdrawn

Nation's Union Bloc

New Historical Option Party

Liberal Party

Christian-Social Union of Moldova

Tatiana Cretu, independent candidate

Our Party

The Central Electoral Commission registered 22 electoral contenders for the parliamentary elections: 14 political parties, four electoral blocs and four independent candidates. The registration of the Greater Moldova Party was annulled under the CEC's decision on September 26, 2025.

The Constitution of Moldova stipulates that the parliament is made up of 101 MPs elected by universal, equal, direct, secret and freely expressed vote, for a four-year term. Parliamentary elections are held on the basis of a proportional system, in a single national constituency and in a single round.

Only the electoral contenders who exceed the threshold – 5% for parties, 7% for blocs, 2% for independents – are eligible for the distribution of the 101 mandates. The mandates are allocated according to the d'Hondt method, which involves dividing the votes got by a series of natural numbers, with mandates being assigned based on the highest results.

At least one-third of the voters registered in the electoral lists must participate for the elections to be validated.