COMRAT /Moldova/, May 14. /TASS/. The voter turnout at Sunday’s runoff elections of the head of Moldova’s Gagauz autonomy has exceeded 33% necessary to declare them valid, chairperson of the Central Elections Commission (CEC) Yana Kovalenko said on Sunday.

"A total of 32,218 voters have taken part in the elections in Gagauzia <…> the voter turnout has reached 35.7% <…> We can state that the elections are valid," she said.

Grigori Uzun of Moldova’s opposition Party of Socialists and Eugenia Gutul of the Sor party are vying for the office of the head of Moldova’s Gagauz autonomy in the runoff elections. Both scored slightly more than 26% of votes in the first round of voting on April 30.

The autonomy’s head represents the region in foreign politics and is a member of the Moldovan government.

Ahead of the runoff voting, the Gagauz parliament accused Moldova’s central authorities of seeking to frustrate the elections, which are expected to be won by the opposition. The elections are monitored by observers from the EU nations, the United States and other countries. Russian representatives were not invited by the Moldovan government.