Gagauzia holds election for governor and assembly on 15 November 2026

Who is running

Eight candidates are registered for governor. Alexandr Stoianoglo, an independent, sits in Moldova's parliament and is a former prosecutor general. He lost the 2024 presidential runoff to Maia Sandu as the candidate of the Party of Socialists, whose leader Igor Dodon is known for his affinity for Moscow. He wants to restore dialogue between Comrat, the region's administrative centre, and Chisinau.

Fiodor Gagauz, the Party of Socialists' nominee, sat in Moldova's parliament from 2014 to 2025. Serghei Anastasov, an independent, has been mayor of Comrat since 2015 and supports renewed dialogue with Chisinau.

The others are Cornel Dudnic, Oleg Garizan and Ivanna Koksal, all independents; Ivan Cilcic of the Gagauz People's Party, a regional party; and Petru Vlah of the New Historical Option party. For the People's Assembly, 138 people filed to run, 95 of them as independents.

How the vote works

Polling stations are open from 07:00 to 21:00 local time. A candidate for governor wins with more than half of the votes cast. If nobody reaches that, a second round is held on 29 November 2026.

The 35 assembly deputies are elected directly for four years, one in each of 35 constituencies.

Moldova's Central Electoral Commission organises the vote. Changes to the Electoral Code published on 26 August 2026 placed Gagauzia's elections within the national electoral system. A candidate for governor must be at least 35, have lived in Gagauzia for 10 years and speak Gagauz and Romanian.

How the race got here

Gutul won the governor's post in 2023 with the backing of Ilan Shor, a fugitive oligarch. In August 2025 she was sentenced to seven years in prison for supporting Shor's electoral fraud network. The People's Assembly declared the post vacant on 17 August 2026.

The assembly's own term expired on 15 November 2025. Courts annulled elections called for 22 March and 21 June 2026 because the region's electoral body had not been set up as the law requires. On 3 July 2026 the assembly set 15 November as the date. On 1 September the Central Electoral Commission put the governor's election on the same day.

What happens next

1. Jul 3The assembly sets the date of the vote
2. today
3. Oct 16The campaign begins
4. Nov 13The campaign ends
5. Nov 15Voting day
6. Nov 29Second round for governor, if needed

The campaign runs from 16 October to 13 November 2026.

Each polling station must report its count within 18 hours of closing. If no candidate for governor has more than half of the votes, the Central Electoral Commission calls the second round by 19 November.

Gagauzia's Central Electoral Council, the regional election body, validates the winner's mandate within 10 days of receiving the count records, once any complaints are settled. The governor is by office a member of Moldova's government.