Who runs local government in Moldova?

Moldova has two elected tiers: about 898 villages, communes and towns at the first level, and 32 districts (raioane) plus Chișinău and Bălți at the second. The south has Gagauzia, an autonomous territory with its own elected governor (Bașkan) and law-making People's Assembly. Transnistria, on the left bank of the Dniester, is outside the control of the Moldovan authorities.

Republic of Moldova · Unitary republic · Eastern Europe

The levels of government below the nation

Level	How it is chosen	What it does
Districts – raioane (32), municipalities of Chișinău and Bălți	District council directly elected for four years; council elects its president	District roads, secondary schools, some social services.
ATU Gagauzia (Gagauz Yeri)	Bașkan (governor) and People's Assembly (Halk Topluşu) directly elected for four years	Autonomous powers in culture, education, local economy and language, with its own laws within Moldovan law.
First-level units (53 towns, 13 municipalities, about 832 communes/villages)	Local council and mayor (primar) directly elected for four years (last in November 2023)	Local roads, water, kindergartens, local planning, civil registration.

Three questions about local power in Moldova

Are local leaders elected?

Mayors, local councils and district councils are directly elected. In Gagauzia the Bașkan and People's Assembly are directly elected; by law the Bașkan is also a member of the national government.

Which laws set up local government?

The Constitution (Articles 109–113, including Article 111 on Gagauzia), the 1994 Law on the Special Legal Status of Gagauzia and the 2006 Law on Local Public Administration. Church and diaspora influence is informal.

Who are local leaders accountable to?

Voters can recall mayors by local referendum. The State Chancellery's territorial offices check the legality of local acts and can take them to court; the Court of Accounts audits finances.

Traditional and customary authority

There is no customary authority in law. The Orthodox Church is highly respected and village priests carry moral authority, but they hold no formal local power.

Community and neighbourhood power

Many communes include several villages; the villages without their own council depend on the commune's mayor. Residents' initiatives and hometown associations funded by emigrants are common but informal. The 2002 law sets 1,500 residents as the minimum to form a local government, but there are many exceptions, so many units are very small.

Points to know

Average local unit size is about 2,700 people, and voluntary amalgamation has been discussed for years without a big merger.
Chișinău's mayor is called 'mayor general' and the municipality includes 35 suburban localities.
Gagauz, Russian and Romanian are official languages in Gagauzia.
Five development regions exist for planning only.

Local terms

Primar: Directly elected mayor.
Raion: District, the second tier of local government.
Bașkan: Directly elected governor of Gagauzia.

Sources

Constitution of the Republic of Moldova (1994, rev. 2024), Constitute Project, checked 14 October 2026
Republic of Moldova: country profile (territorial organisation, responsibilities, finance), OECD–UCLG World Observatory on Subnational Government Finance and Investment (SNG-WOFI), checked 14 October 2026
Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Moldova, Central Electoral Commission, checked 14 October 2026
People's Assembly of Gagauzia (Halk Topluşu), People's Assembly of Gagauzia, checked 14 October 2026