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The paper explains various aspects of the local electoral process in the Republic of Moldova.

Dezbaterile publice privind administraţia publică sunt de neconceput fără analiza problemelor ce vizează autoadministrarea colectivităţilor locale. Carta Europeană a Autonomiei Locale tratează colectivităţile locale ca fundamente ale democraţiilor contemporane, recunoscându-le dreptul şi capacitatea de a rezolva o parte considerabilă din problemele cu caracter local sub propria responsabilitate şi în interesul populaţiei locale. Pentru exercitarea acestui drept, fiecare stat elaborează cadrul normativ, care, sub influenţa mediului politic, social şi economic, este supus unor permanente modificări, operate pentru a da mai multă forţă sistemului de autoadministrare. Prezenta lucrare îşi propune să faciliteze cunoaşterea, înţelegerea şi însuşirea problematicii autoadministrării colectivităţilor locale. Pe planul informaţiei sunt prezentate rezultatele cercetărilor analitice, obţinute fie în cadrul unor eforturi de cercetare, fie în programe de consultanţă. Rolul acestora este de a sugera pe de o parte importanţa cunoaşterii potenţialului colectivităţilor locale, constrângerilor şi resurselor în planificarea unor măsuri asumate formal şi de o manieră sistematică. Pe de altă parte oferă soluţii practice şi sugestii privind aplicarea unor acte normative şi soluţionarea diverselor probleme generate de practicile cotidiene. Înserarea în conţinutul lucrării a problemelor de natură juridică şi teoretică urmăreşte nu doar înzestrarea cititorului cu informaţii relevante şi actuale. Acestea apar mai degrabă ca un reper pentru contemplare, pentru clarificare şi sistematizare şi mai ales pentru a le situa corect în raport cu misiunea activităţilor circumscrise administrării. Lucrarea va fi utilă celor implicaţi în procesul decizional local, funcţionarilor publici din instituţiile administraţiei publice locale, angajaţilor întreprinderilor municipale, studenţilor şi masteranzilor, tuturor celor interesaţi de problemele autoadministrării locale.

Efficient functioning of the local government depends on its territorial organization, which must correspond to the objective needs of building public power structures, capable of responding, in line with European standards, to the new political, social, economic and cultural realities in which located Republic of Moldova.
To investigate the phenomenon and identify efficient solutions was proposed to change the paradigm of investigation the phenomenon. It affirms the necessity to abandon the paradigm of an administrative-territorial organization and adopt a paradigm for the territorial organization of public power. In this sense, a theoretical-conceptual and methodological basis was elaborated in the domain of the territorial organization of the public power, in general, and in the local one in particular.

Conceptual-typological Aspects of Local Electoral Systems A democracy cannot be built unless it is based on free elections. Elections are a sine qua non condition of democratic governance. Elections are the central procedure of representation in modern democracies, and our generation has made substantial progress in understanding how voters come to make decisions. The elections were imposed in the constitutional history of the world as activities whose social and political effervescence in society is specific, competitions in which the best ones win. In fact, we make the first finding: the local electoral system is a fundamental area of society, the way it is managed and carried out, it reflects the level of development of democracy. The country's implementing bodies are chosen and this is why it is so important that it is organized and carried out correctly, transparently and democratically. The local electoral system is essentially created for citizens and must represent their interests, which we must recognize, often in practice does not happen very often. The actuality of the theme of this article starts from the premise that an electoral system is closely linked to democracy, because it expresses its values, thus constituting an indicator of the democratic character of a society and, at the same time, it contributes to the strengthening of democracy. Although there are different realities, and the electoral procedures differ from state to state, however, it can be said that, depending on how the mandates for the eligible positions are distributed (won), there are three modalities of electoral system: majority electoral system; proportional electoral system; mixed electoral system.

The recognition of the local collectivities and the essential role of democratic
society require the clear definition of the term "local collectivity", which would allow the
avoiding of ambiguities in its usage.
The defining element of the local territorial collectivities is the population, which
includes all inhabitants permanently living in the territorial perimeter of the local
collectivity.
There are identified criteria that allow the establishment of the individuals' belonging
to a specific local collectivity. This is very important because the individual's ability to be
part of a particular local collectivity gives him the opportunity to take part in local selfgovernment.
I insisted on the recognition of the local population as a subject of the local autonomy,
and not of the local public authorities elected by the population who are representatives of
the local territorial collectivities, while also examining the causes of the population's nonparticipation
in local public life.

This article tests if the democratization process in Central and Eastern Europe
coincides with a decrease in number of invalid votes. Using descriptive
statistics, we seek for evidence from 67 elections in ten countries from the
regions during the period 1990-2012. By the beginning of the 2000s, ten years
after the breakdown of communist regime, the percentages of invalid votes
in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe reached levels comparable to
those of the Western European democracies. However, significant differences
between regions and countries endure. This article adds to the literature by
being the first to inquire into the subject of invalid votes in the Central and
Eastern Europe.

The name is one of the essential basic elements of the identity of a local collectivity. The local collectivity is self-identified and individualized through its name, in relation to the other collectivities of the same type.
The name of local collectivities have functioned and developed during the centuries. Their meaning, content and evolution provide the valuable information concerning the evolution of local collectivities over time.
The return to the traditional names of local territorial collectivities was the first stage of the attempts to the territorial-administrative reform in Moldova.
Although, many localities have reestablished their historical names, the process is not ended. Still today, one can find in toponymic landscape of Moldova, the names of localities which are improper to the national spirit and historical traditions.
The procedure regarding the assignment or change of the designation and the return to the historical names of local collectivities is in the process of examination.

This article reveals the institutional characteristics of local public administration in the Republic of Moldova - local autonomy, decentralization of public services, eligibility of public authorities, and consultation of citizens in issues of major interest. From institutional point of view, the local public administration in the Republic of Moldova is insufficiently developed. Local autonomy is performed with long postponement. Most of the population is still under the influence of the idea that all the problems are solved at the central administration level, while the local public officials are just some executive agents at the local level.
Options related to decentralization as a requirement of administration's approach by the administratives, have been manifested more as a way of the central authorities to get rid of the problems that they themselves can not solve. Citizens' behavior in Moldova shows on a limited degree of control that can occur in connection with the social and political process. Forms of realization of the principle of consultation of citizens in matters of particular interest are consultations, public hearings and conversations. Although legally regulated, the referendum failed to materialize itself into a viable institution of participation. In this connection it is necessary to take into account the fact that the structure of the resistance of local public administration consists of its institutional roles, and assimilation of these ones is achieved on the basis of access to media materials.

During the three decades of independence, in the Republic of Moldova has been undertaken
several actions regarding the territorial reorganization of the local power and administrative
mechanisms at subnational level. But these were insufficient, and in some
cases badly achieved, being ostentatiously rejected by the political actors and officials
from the state and local public authorities. In general, the reforms and restructuring of
the public administration at the local level and, implicitly, of the territorial organization
of the local public power, have been achieved according to the political tactics and
changes, but not on the basis of coherent strategies and with clearly defined goals.
Chronologically, the process of reforming the territorial organization of the local power
has covered three distinct stages:
First stage: perpetuation of the soviet-type centralized territorial administrative delimitation,
which covers the period from the declaration of Independence till the end of
the 1998.
Second stage: trying to build the territorial system of exercising the local public power
in the spirit of the decentralization and local autonomy principles, which lasted from
the end of the 1998 till 2003.
Third stage: returning to the centralized territorial organization of the local public
power, which started in 2003 and lasts until now. There was a return at the soviet
system of local public power organization; the number of local collectivities of the first
level was increased by 30% compared to the previous period.
In this article has been analyzed these three distinct stages of the reforming process of
the local power territorial organization in the Republic of Moldova.