OSCE Mission Head regrets renewed failure of mayoral election in Moldova's capital

CHISINAU, 28 November 2005 - The Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova today said he regrets that the 27 November election for the Mayor of Chisinau was again invalid due to the low turnout of voters. He recommended abolishing the minimum turnout requirement for local elections.

"It is most unfortunate that elections for this very important office have failed for the third time in less than five months," said Ambassador William Hill, the Head of the Mission.

"The OSCE has already recommended the elimination of the current threshold of one third of voters for local elections. We have also noted an extremely low-key electoral campaign, so the latest failure to elect a Mayor does not come as a surprise."

The Mission has carried out a political assessment of the elections, noting that voters had a genuine choice between eight candidates representing different political forces. At the same time, only two out of the five parties represented in Parliament registered their own candidates.

The print media offered diverse political views and information on the candidates' electoral platforms, and the broadcast media offered not only paid and free-of-charge electoral advertisements but also coverage of debates. However, in contrast to earlier elections, campaign events received only very limited coverage in the news.

On election day, five teams consisting of OSCE Mission members observed the voting process in 45 out of the 283 polling stations.

Repeat elections are expected to take place in Chisinau on 11 December.

Two previous attempts to elect a Mayor of Chisinau took place on 10 and 24 July.