Over 60,000 candidates have been registered for the general local elections on November 5, 2023. There are nearly 4 million candidates competing for the position of mayor. Most of them will appear on the ballot for the position of the capital’s mayor, writes PRO TV Chisinau. According to the Promo-Lex Association, the number of candidates nationwide is about 4% higher than in the local elections in 2019.
Nicolae Panfil, Program Director of PROMO-LEX said that “they have observed that at least 3,900 candidates have been registered for the position of mayor. Most candidates have been registered in the Floresti, Orhei, Ungheni, and Soroca districts. Approximately 30% are women, and 70% are men. For comparison, in the 2019 local elections, there were 3,746 registered candidates, of which 27% were women.”
According to the Promo-Lex Association, out of the 3,900 candidates for the position of mayor, only 8% are independent, and 92% have been nominated by political parties and electoral blocs. The Action and Solidarity Party has 698 mayoral candidates, the Chance Party has 649, and the PSRM has 520.
MOST CANDIDATES FOR THE POSITION OF MAYOR
- ACTION AND SOLIDARITY PARTY – 689 CANDIDATES
- CHANCE PARTY – 649 CANDIDATES
- PARTY OF SOCIALISTS – 520 CANDIDATES
According to Promo-Lex, Chisinau has recorded a record number of mayoral candidates.
Nicolae Panfil claims that “for the position of mayor of Chisinau municipality, 27 candidates have been registered, of which only 5 are women, and for the position of mayor of Balti municipality, there are 15 candidates, including 4 women. Independent mayoral candidates have been registered only in Balti, with two women.”
Documenting the change in political affiliation of mayors, Promo-LEX observers found that, towards the end of their mandate, about 39% of them changed their political preferences or declared themselves independent.
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“About 30% of those who changed their political affiliation, but were once part of the PDM, migrated to the PAS party, 18% migrated to PDCM, and 10% to two other parties,” said Panfil.
As for the 11,058 councilor mandates in local councils, over 56,000 individuals are running.
“The most applications were filed with the Chisinau Electoral Council – 35 applications and 1,133 candidates on the councilor lists, followed by Balti, where there are 19 applications and 465 candidates, and the Orhei council,” concluded he.
Promo-LEX observers have recorded at least 15 cases of rejection of candidates’ registration applications for the position of mayor and councilor. In most cases, the reasons were the prohibition of holding a public office and an insufficient number of collected signatures.