Update — 25 October 2026. Law No. 154 of 30 July 2026, whose Article XVI has been in force since 13 August, the date of its publication in the Official Gazette, prohibits, between 1 September 2026 and the first round of the 2027 general local elections inclusive, the adoption of decisions on initiating voluntary amalgamation, on voluntary amalgamation or on joining an amalgamated territorial unit. The decisions by which Petrești (No. 06-2) and Todirești (No. 8/1) approved the amalgamation date from 31 August, the last day before the ban, and are listed as in force in the State Register of Local Acts as of 25 October. The consultation meeting called for 6 September, announced below, came after these votes; from 1 September until the first round of the 2027 general local elections inclusive, the councils of the two communes cannot adopt decisions on initiation, amalgamation or accession. The text below has been updated.
Update (3 September 2026). Decision No. 05/2 of 25 August, on which the article below was based, was retroactively rewritten by Petrești Council on 31 August through Decision No. 06-2. The original operative text read ‘The voluntary amalgamation is approved’; after the amendment, it became ‘The proposal to initiate the process is accepted’ and ‘The voluntary amalgamation process is initiated.’ The actual approval of amalgamation is in Decision No. 06-2, adopted on 31 August — not 25 August, as the initial document indicated. On the same day, Todirești Council approved amalgamation through Decision No. 8/1. The district now has 32 of its 33 municipalities with an amalgamation decision published in the register. The full timeline is in the article ‘32 municipalities in Ungheni voted for amalgamation’.
On September 6, at 12.00, a meeting with the citizens of the villages of Todirești and Grăseni is scheduled at the Todirești House of Culture regarding the amalgamation with the commune of Petrești. The announcement comes from a local Facebook group. Grăseni is a component village of the commune of Todirești.
The meeting comes ten days after, on August 25, the Petrești Local Council approved the voluntary amalgamation with Todirești — in an extraordinary session, with 10 votes in favour, no votes against and no abstentions. Decision nr. 05/2, published in the State Register of Local Acts, assigns Mayor Serghei Gorea the task of transmitting the consolidated dossier to the State Chancellery.
What changed in three months
On May 17, at a general assembly attended by approximately 300 citizens, the residents of Petrești voted unanimously against the amalgamation with Todirești. According to the statements of Mayor Gorea, as reported by Provincial.md (primary source: calm.md), the arguments were clear: “There is no connecting road between us, so we cannot merge. The people of Todirești don’t want us, and the population of Petrești doesn’t want it either.”
Ten days later, on May 27, the Petrești Local Council formally rejected the amalgamation proposal, with 10 votes in favour of rejection and 2 abstentions. Decision nr. 03/14 cited the population exceeding 3,000 inhabitants — the threshold below which regulatory amalgamation becomes possible under Law nr. 225/2023.
On August 25, the same proposal was approved unanimously, without abstentions. Between rejection and approval, 90 days had passed. As of 25 October there is no public explanation for the change: no statement, no post and no intermediate decision in the register.
Triunghi.md is requesting a statement from the municipalities of Petrești and Todirești.
Three initiation decisions, none repealed
For its part, the commune of Todirești adopted three amalgamation initiation decisions between May and August 2026, with three different groups of partners:
On May 15, decision nr. 4/1 initiated the amalgamation with Chirileni, Bușila and Negurenii Vechi (11 votes in favour). On June 5, decision nr. 5/1 targeted a group of five communes around Pîrlița (8 votes in favour, 2 against, 2 abstentions). On August 6, decision nr. 7/1 initiated the amalgamation with Petrești (10 votes in favour, 1 abstention).
None of the three decisions has been repealed — all are listed as “act in force” in the State Register of Local Acts. The first two partners have since formed their own groups without Todirești: Bușila-Chirileni-Negurenii Vechi and, respectively, the Pîrlița group with five communes.
As of July 31, according to the analysis published by Triunghi.md at the district level, Todirești was the only municipality below the 3,000-inhabitant threshold that remained outside any amalgamation group.
Numbers
According to the preliminary data of the National Bureau of Statistics as of January 1, 2026, the commune of Todirești had 2,782 inhabitants — below the 3,000 threshold provided by Law nr. 225/2023. The commune of Petrești had 3,127 inhabitants according to NBS, and 3,185 according to the 2024 census (the figure cited in the May rejection decision).
Petrești, being above the threshold, is not at risk of regulatory amalgamation. Todirești, below the threshold, could have been amalgamated by regulation if it had not completed the voluntary process — according to the written response of the Ungheni Territorial Office of the State Chancellery, published by Triunghi.md.
The combined population of the two communes would be approximately 5,900 inhabitants.
What the consultation meeting entails
According to the Citizen’s Guide, published by the State Chancellery, the voluntary amalgamation procedure involves several stages: initiation, formation of a working group, public consultations of at least 30 days, a final decision of the local council by a two-thirds majority, submission of the dossier to the State Chancellery, approval by law and, finally, elections.
The meeting was announced on 28 August for 6 September, a date after the votes by which both councils approved the amalgamation, on 31 August (Decisions No. 06-2 and No. 8/1).
According to the same guide, the municipality in the centre that does not become the seat of the new administrative-territorial unit does not disappear but becomes a Unified Service Delivery Centre (CUPS) — a formulation different from the “liquidation of the Municipality” used in the meeting announcement.
Mayors and councillors from all units involved remain in office until the local elections in November 2027.