CHISINAU, October 15. /TASS/. Moldovan authorities are pursuing a deliberate campaign to create "legal chaos" aimed at blocking elections to the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia, Evghenia Gutsul, head of the Gagauz autonomy, said in a written statement conveyed through her lawyers to TASS.

"We are witnessing a calculated effort to generate legal chaos. Under the pretext of aligning legislation, the ruling party is in fact dismantling the very foundation on which our elections are built. It is important to understand that the People’s Assembly is only an interim target in their broader plans," she stated.

On August 5, 2025, Gutsul was sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of illegally financing the opposition Sor Party. She was also banned from political activity for five years and fined $2.4 million — the amount she allegedly used to fund her campaign. Her defense team has appealed the ruling. Gutsul maintains that the lawsuit is politically motivated and backed by the ruling Action and Solidarity Party, which controls both the Moldovan parliament and government.

Election confusion

In August 2025, the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia postponed setting a date for its next election until legal uncertainties were resolved. According to the Assembly’s Chairman, Dmitry Konstantinov, the issue arose because the law stipulates that election results must be certified by the Comrat Court of Appeal, a body recently abolished by the Moldovan government without naming a replacement.

The Assembly appealed to the Moldovan parliament and President Maia Sandu to reinstate the court, but Chisinau ignored the request. Further complicating matters is a dispute over when the current Assembly’s four-year term officially began. The first session of the seventh convocation opened on November 12, 2021, but lawmakers did not manage to elect a speaker until February 2022, after 14 failed attempts. During that period, the Assembly made no decisions, and now legal experts differ on whether the term should be counted from November 2021 or February 2022.

As a result, the Assembly has not yet determined the election date or finalized the composition of the regional election commission. Political analysts warn that Moldova’s Central Election Commission may intervene to create a central electoral body for Gagauzia — one that would organize the elections, validate the results, and handle any disputes that may arise.