diff --git a/controllers/numaresourcesscheduler_controller.go b/controllers/numaresourcesscheduler_controller.go
index 14d2bebd3..a25ea61d7 100644
--- a/controllers/numaresourcesscheduler_controller.go
+++ b/controllers/numaresourcesscheduler_controller.go
@@ -264,6 +264,10 @@ func unpackAPIResyncPeriod(reconcilePeriod *metav1.Duration) time.Duration {
 
 func configParamsFromSchedSpec(schedSpec nropv1.NUMAResourcesSchedulerSpec, cacheResyncPeriod time.Duration, namespace string) k8swgmanifests.ConfigParams {
 	resyncPeriod := int64(cacheResyncPeriod.Seconds())
+	// if no actual replicas are required, leader election is unnecessary, so
+	// we force it to off to reduce the background noise.
+	// note: the api validation/normalization layer must ensure this value is != nil
+	leaderElect := (*schedSpec.Replicas > 1)
 
 	params := k8swgmanifests.ConfigParams{
 		ProfileName: schedSpec.SchedulerName,
@@ -271,16 +275,18 @@ func configParamsFromSchedSpec(schedSpec nropv1.NUMAResourcesSchedulerSpec, cach
 			ResyncPeriodSeconds: &resyncPeriod,
 		},
 		ScoringStrategy: &k8swgmanifests.ScoringStrategyParams{},
-	}
-
-	if schedSpec.Replicas != nil && *schedSpec.Replicas > 1 {
-		params.LeaderElection = &k8swgmanifests.LeaderElectionParams{
-			LeaderElect:       true,
+		LeaderElection: &k8swgmanifests.LeaderElectionParams{
+			// Make sure to always set explicitly the value and override the configmap defaults.
+			LeaderElect: leaderElect,
+			// unconditionally set those to make sure
+			// to play nice with the cluster and the main scheduler
 			ResourceNamespace: namespace,
 			ResourceName:      leaderElectionResourceName,
-		}
+		},
 	}
 
+	klog.V(2).InfoS("setting leader election parameters", dumpLeaderElectionParams(params.LeaderElection)...)
+
 	var foreignPodsDetect string
 	var resyncMethod string = k8swgmanifests.CacheResyncAutodetect
 	var informerMode string
@@ -317,7 +323,7 @@ func configParamsFromSchedSpec(schedSpec nropv1.NUMAResourcesSchedulerSpec, cach
 	params.Cache.ResyncMethod = &resyncMethod
 	params.Cache.ForeignPodsDetectMode = &foreignPodsDetect
 	params.Cache.InformerMode = &informerMode
-	klog.InfoS("setting cache parameters", dumpConfigCacheParams(params.Cache)...)
+	klog.V(2).InfoS("setting cache parameters", dumpConfigCacheParams(params.Cache)...)
 
 	return params
 }
@@ -331,6 +337,14 @@ func dumpConfigCacheParams(ccp *k8swgmanifests.ConfigCacheParams) []interface{}
 	}
 }
 
+func dumpLeaderElectionParams(lep *k8swgmanifests.LeaderElectionParams) []interface{} {
+	return []interface{}{
+		"leaderElect", lep.LeaderElect,
+		"resourceNamespace", lep.ResourceNamespace,
+		"resourceName", lep.ResourceName,
+	}
+}
+
 func strInt64Ptr(ip *int64) string {
 	if ip == nil {
 		return "N/A"