​At the last elections in Gagauzia, an autonomous region of the Republic of Moldova, Yevgenia Hutsul, a representative of the pro-Russian “OR” party, which has since been recognized as unconstitutional, won. Although elections were held on May 14, Baskana has not been able to impose its local government even now, as the Gagauz parliament (People’s Assembly) says its members do not know the local language (Turkish) or the realities of the region.

The People’s Assembly of the capital of Gagauzia, Komrat, does not accept the composition of the executive committee, that is, the local government, proposed by Yevgenia Hutsul. She won elections in Gagauzia on May 14 with the support of the recently declared unconstitutional Shor party, led by fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor, who has been in Israel since 2019.

The region, officially called “Găgăuz Yeri”, was created in the early 1990s to protect the rights of the Gagauz minority on the territory of the Republic of Moldova.

Today, many of Gagauzia’s 155,000 residents are nostalgic for the Soviet Union, speak only Russian (although the official language in Moldova is Romanian, and Gagauz is close to Turkish) and see their future only with the Russian Federation.

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A month ago, the mayor of Gagauzia Yevgenia Hutsul proposed a revised list of members of the executive committee. The People’s Assembly of Comrat refused to consider its composition on the grounds that the list includes people who do not know the Gagauz (Turkish) language or the realities of autonomy, and they were chosen based on one criterion – closeness to the SOR party.

“I believe that Baskan did not distance himself from the ŞOR political party (declared unconstitutional on June 19 – no). In order to avoid a long-term political, economic and financial crisis in Gagauzia, such an Executive Committee does not deserve a vote,” said the vice-president of the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia Oleksandr Tarnavskyi to HotNews.ro.

Local legislation allows Baskan Gagauzia to dissolve the People’s Assembly if it insists on rejecting proposed candidates for local executive positions.

At the same time, however, in theory, the People’s Assembly can sue the governor of Gagauzia if he does not agree to his dissolution, Tarnavskyi claims.

“It is obvious that if someone believes that the governor of Gagauzia exceeded his duties or violated the law, he has the right to go to court to protect his rights,” said Tarnavskyi.

Currently, the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia has 35 deputies. The faction of the Bloc of Communists and Socialists has nine local deputies and the “Voice of Gagauzia” group has six deputies. The rest are independent and, at least officially, do not identify with any political party.

According to Tarnavskyi, it is “difficult to say” how many local deputies support Basque.

“If you are not supported by the executive committee, the voters will get the impression that the deputies are blocking the activities of the new governor and the opportunities to implement the projects that they also promised.

On the other hand, if they vote for such composition of the executive committee, other risks arise. The first is that the dialogue with Chisinau will not resume, it will be distanced from external partners, and the third risk is that the political agenda of the SOR party will be continued.

Given that there is no official statement or official visit from Turkey, it looks like isolation. There was no official statement from Russia either. That is, there was no greeting or official visit from other states or international structures,” said Tarnavskyi.

Evgenia Hutsul was unknown in Gagauzia before the elections

New Basque and voters of Gagauzia. PHOTO: Dmytro Osmatesko / Sputnik / Profimedia

The local deputy claims that neither the politicians from the autonomy nor the voters knew anything about Yevgenia Hutsul before the elections this spring.

There are at least three reasons why she was elected, says the vice-president of the National Assembly.

“There are three explanations that I would name. The first is the influence of political technologies, that is, beautiful commercials, many concerts, many financial investments, many fabulous promises.

The second factor is the protest vote against the policies promoted by the ruling party in Chisinau, because the winter period was very difficult. Many were disappointed, and here the candidate promises to lower the price of blue fuel.

And the third factor is that, probably, the political elite of Gagauzia believed that it would be much more convenient to work with this young and inexperienced person than with the candidate from the Socialist Party, who is known for his tough position,” he believes. Tarnavshchy.

In the conditions of the dissolution of the People’s Assembly, Gagauzia will once again find itself in an election fever. In May of this year, Yevgenia Hutsul won the elections for the position of autonomous Baskan, ahead of the candidate from the Socialist Party Hryhoriy Uzun. In the second round, Hutsul won 52.39% of the votes.

The ceremonial opening of the baskhana took place on July 19. Exactly one month before, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova declared the ȘOR party unconstitutional, the notice was given by the Ministry of Justice in Chisinau at the end of last year.

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