2023 Moldovan Local Elections

Local elections were held in Moldova on 5 November 2023, with a runoff round for mayors held two weeks after the first round on 19 November 2023. The main electoral contenders were, on the one hand, the pro-European, Atlanticist, centre-right, and liberal Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS), currently in government (namely since 2021 onwards), and, on the other hand, the left-wing and pro-Russian Bloc of Communists and Socialists (BECS), currently in opposition and comprising the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) as well as the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM), the latter being the largest political party of the alliance. The incumbent Recean Cabinet organized these local elections. In addition, these local elections might have been the first in Moldova in which the electronic vote could have been introduced. The PAS won the most votes in the elections.

Last local election

In 2019, the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM) won the most, namely 17 out of 32 administrative districts, as per the electoral results obtained or registered at the last Moldovan local elections which were held in 2019.

Following the same 2019 election, the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) only exerted political control over one district (i.e. raion) PAS won its only politically controlled district as part of the ACUM electoral bloc/political alliance which also comprised the Dignity and Truth Platform (PPDA), the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (PLDM), and the National Unity Party (PUN).

Background

The parliamentary majority expressed some openness in discussing the administrative-territorial reform. In February 2023, there were allegations of a coup in Moldova. Former Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița (PAS) announced in 2023 that fundamental local government reform will not take place until the elections, but that "voluntary amalgamation" could be implemented, i.e. the union of several administrative-territorial units voluntarily.

On 19 June 2023, the Șor Party was declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court of Moldova. Ilan Shor, who is a fugitive from justice, was banned, as were other Șor Party politicians from standing for election. In August 2023 a clone party, called “ ȘANSĂ”, led by journalist Alexei Lungu was established. “ȘANSĂ” was deregistered as a political party two days before the local elections in November amid claims of using illegal funds from Russia. This resulted in a blanket ban on all 8,605 candidates nominated by one party. Intelligence chief Alexandru Musteață said that Russia spent about a billion Moldovan lei (roughly US$55.5 million), routed through Ilan Shor, to overthrow the democratic government and destabilize Moldova, with ȘANSĂ using around 10% of this sum in the prior 2 months to bribe voters and illegally finance the political party associated with Shor.

In an attempt to reduce the disinformation being put out by Russian media in Moldova, in October the Information and Security Service of Moldova blocked 22 Russian language websites for dissemination information from an aggressor nation (Russia), followed by the suspension of 6 TV stations linked to Shor and oligarch, Vladimir Plahotniuc who are both sanctioned individuals who have fled Moldova.

Conduct

Electronic voting was expected to be tested in these local elections.

Mayoral results

After the first round of voting and the 273 runoff votes on 19 November:
* 898 mayoral positions were contested;
* In Chișinău, incumbent mayor, Ion Ceban was re-elected;
* Bălți went to Alexandr Petkov;

Three settlements will need to go to the polls again in May 2024 due to administrative issues.

External observers

The Central Election Commission of Moldova accredited 401 international observers for the election, none of the observers were Russian.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) was an observer organisation, with 264 observers from 36 countries, their opinion on the election was that: "The elections were calm and efficiently managed with candidates mostly able to campaign freely, but the broad powers of the government commission for exceptional situations were used to restrict freedom of speech and association as well as the right to stand, while interference from abroad and widespread allegations of vote buying throughout the campaign were of concern".

The banning of candidates was contrary to commitments made by all OSCE states as well as other international standards for democratic elections; however, the elections were run well under challenging circumstances. Observers noted credible, persistent, and widespread allegations of the use of illegal funds for vote buying, linked to the leader of the dissolved Șor Party, and the use of foreign private sponsorship to fund local infrastructure projects in some districts, to gain votes.

The 5 November local elections were peaceful and managed efficiently, reported OSCE, but noted that interference from abroad and restrictive measures imposed due to national security concerns had a negative impact on the process.

Post election events

An appeal to the Chisinau Court of Appeal after the local elections by the Chance party saw in December 2023 a reversal of the ban that had seen 600 candidates removed from the November ballot.

References

{{Moldovan elections

Local elections
Moldova
Moldovan elections
Local elections in Moldova