The current mayor of Chisinau, Ivan Ceban, is leading in the mayoral elections. According to preliminary data from the Central Election Commission (CEC), after examining the protocols of five of 305 polling stations, it received 56.8% of the votes, he writes TASS.
In second place is Lilian Karp, candidate of the pro-European Action and Solidarity Party, with 22.6 percent of the votes.
To win you need to get more than 50% of the votes. Otherwise, a second round of elections will be held. According to the report of the Central Election Commission, the turnout in the local elections in Chisinau at 14.35 (15.35 Moscow time) was 25.01%, which legally allows the elections to be considered valid.
The opposition says the electoral process in Moldova has been completely discredited.
On Sunday, Moldovans elect local mayors and councilors for the next four years. According to Moldovan legislation, local elections will be considered valid if more than a quarter of the citizens on the election lists participate.
Residents of Moldova must elect approximately 900 mayors and heads of rural administrations, as well as more than 11 thousand local council deputies. Council members are elected in a single round of elections. If none of them gets more than 50 percent of the votes in the first round, a second round awaits the mayoral candidates. The real struggle is for the mayors of Chisinau and Balti, the second largest city. A record number of candidates are running for the mayoral seat in Chisinau: 28 people.
Previously Lukashenko compared Belarusian dictatorship with elections in the USA.