How television stations covered the elections in Gagauzia during the first week of the campaign. Broadcasting Council findings

Television coverage of the elections in the Gagauz autonomous region varied significantly from one broadcaster to another during the first week of the election campaign, both in terms of the number of reports aired and the visibility given to candidates. According to the findings of monitoring conducted by the Broadcasting Council (CA) between 16 and 22 October 2026, some television stations provided information about all eight candidates for the position of Bashkan (Governor) of Gagauzia, while others devoted limited coverage to election-related topics or did not cover them at all in their main news bulletins. The report, examined during the CA meeting on Thursday, 29 October, also highlighted shortcomings in electoral information programmes.

The monitoring covered television stations that had undertaken to cover the elections for the position of Bashkan of Gagauzia and for the People’s Assembly of the autonomous region, scheduled for 15 November 2026.

Six television stations declared their intention to cover the Bashkan election: Moldova 1, TV Găgăuzia, TV8, Cinema 1, Pro TV Chișinău and unu1TV. Of these, four — TV Găgăuzia, TV8, Pro TV Chișinău and unu1TV — also undertook to cover the elections to the People’s Assembly.

The monitoring began with the start of the election campaign on 16 October and covers three categories of election-related audiovisual programmes: the main daily news and current affairs bulletins, electoral information programmes and election debates broadcast during peak evening viewing hours.

Share of election news ranged from 28.3% to 0%

The monitoring revealed differences between television stations in the amount of coverage devoted to election-related topics in news and current affairs programmes.

TV Găgăuzia recorded the highest proportion of election news, accounting for 28.3% of all reports broadcast. It was followed at a considerable distance by Cinema 1, with 9.5%, Pro TV Chișinău, with 5.2%, Moldova 1, with 3.6%, and TV8, with 1.3%. unu1TV did not broadcast any election-related reports in the monitored news bulletins.

Differences were also identified in the visibility given to electoral contestants.

Moldova 1, Pro TV Chișinău and Cinema 1 provided information about all eight candidates for the position of Bashkan. However, coverage was not uniform. For some candidates, the television stations reported on the official launch of their election campaigns, while others were merely mentioned in the context of their registration as candidates.

TV8 mentioned only candidate Fiodor Găgăuz, while TV Găgăuzia and unu1TV did not feature any electoral contestants in the monitored news programmes.

Regarding the elections to the People’s Assembly, the monitoring showed that media coverage was predominantly general in nature. Reports focused on the organisation of the elections, the number of registered electoral contestants and citizens’ expectations of the future leadership of the autonomous region, without presenting individual candidates.

Shortcomings in electoral information programmes

The CA’s monitoring also highlighted shortcomings in the production of electoral information programmes. On TV8, the programmes declared under this category did not address election-related topics, while on unu1TV, only two of the 12 programmes were directly relevant to the elections. Cinema 1 did not broadcast the electoral information programmes it had committed to in its editorial declaration.

In the case of Moldova 1, the CA identified shortcomings concerning the moderator’s impartiality and the failure to properly distinguish the electoral information segment within the programme “În context”, contrary to the provisions of the Central Electoral Commission’s Regulation on media coverage of elections.

TV Găgăuzia was the only station to commit to organising election debates

As regards election debates, only TV Găgăuzia undertook to organise them, scheduling six editions dedicated to the elections to the People’s Assembly.

Eleven electoral contestants running for seats in the People’s Assembly participated in the monitored debates, while another 13 declined the invitation.

According to the CA’s findings, the participation rules were presented, and the contestants who attended were given equal speaking time. No violations were identified in the conduct of the debates.

Two public warnings issued following the monitoring

Following its examination of the report, the CA issued public warnings to Moldova 1 and Pro TV Chișinău. In the case of Moldova 1, the sanction concerned non-compliance with the provisions governing the special electoral information segment, while Pro TV Chișinău was sanctioned for failing to meet the requirements regarding the accessibility of election-related content for persons with disabilities.