UPDATE - Moldovan Opposition Party Says Election Headquarters Leaders Detained In Gagauzia Region

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th May, 2023) Law enforcement officers in Moldova's autonomous Gagauzia Region have detained members and leaders of the election headquarters of Yevgenia Gutsul, a candidate for the Gagauzia governor office (Bashkan) from Moldovan opposition party Sor, after searches, the party said on Sunday.

On April 30, residents of the Gagauzia Region went to the poll stations to elect a new governor. The preliminary results showed that Socialist Grigory Uzun and Gutsul tied at around 26% of the vote each, with a 57.8% turnout.

"A number of leaders and members of the election headquarters of Yevgenia Gutsul, a candidate for the office of Gagauzia's Bashkan from the Sor party, were detained this morning after the searches conducted in the party's territorial units, as well as in the activists' homes," the party said in a statement on its official website.

The party's members were engaged in the election campaign in the run-up to the second round of the governor election, Sor said, adding that similar detentions had also taken place in other regions, including Chisinau.

Meanwhile, the Moldovan Anti-Corruption Center said it had conducted a series of searches in the homes of Sor members, adding that the party was suspected of bribing voters in Gagauzia.

"Searches were authorized at the homes, cars and offices ... targeting 10 people. Following them, lists and documents were collected with information about people and the financial means paid, cash, mobile phones and other carriers of information. No one was detained. The Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office is conducting the criminal investigation," the center said in a statement.

The investigation assumes that starting from March until now, Gutsul and her assistants have been receiving money from an "organized criminal group" and using it to "determine voters to vote for the formation's candidate," the statement read.

Amid these developments, Sor leader Ilan Shor urged diplomatic missions of Russia, China and Turkey to voice their positions on the election in the Gagauzia Region, as well as on "the lawlessness the United States and the West are creating both in the world and Moldova by the hands of (Moldovan President) Maia Sandu."

On May 14, Gagauzia is set to vote in the second round of polls to elect the next governor.

Gagauzia declared independence from the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1990, but was reabsorbed by Moldova four years later. The Gagauz people are Orthodox Christians of Turkic origin.