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Race for governor in Moldova's Gagauzia heads to runoff vote

Grigorii Uzun, Evghenia Gutsul will face off in second round slated for May 14

Race for governor in Moldova's Gagauzia heads to runoff vote
2023-05-01 23:34:32

COMRAT, Moldova

People in Moldova's autonomous Gagauzia region will head to the polls for a runoff vote slated for May 14 to elect a new governor.

The first round of voting on Sunday ended with no candidate able to hit the figure required for an outright win.

Grigorii Uzun, nominated by the Socialist Party led by former Moldovan President Igor Dodon, and Evghenia Gutsul, the candidate for the pro-Russian Shor Party, will face off in the second round.

Uzun finished the first round with 26.43% of the vote, with Gutsul just behind on 26.41%, according to official results, which placed the turnout at 57.8% of a total 92,516 registered voters.

The two will go head-to-head to replace Irina Vlah, who served two four-year terms as governor.

The elections are being observed by 21 local and 75 foreign observers from Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, the US, UK, and EU.

Gagauzia is an autonomous region in Moldova with a population of approximately 120,000 Gagauz people – an Orthodox Christian, Turkic community that speaks Gagauz Turkish.