Independent republic of South Ossetia to elect its president for the first time

The presidential elections in South Ossetia will be held in a few days. Both Moscow and Tbilisi are paying great attention to the polls.

This will be the second time the elections have been run since the recognition of the republic's independece by Russia, but the first polls were declared invalid. The political crisis has been successfully overcome and now the republic's civil society looks well-developed.

Four candidates are running for president, they are former deputy head of the republic's State Security Committee Leonid Tibilov, South Ossetian ombudsman David Sanakoyev, the republic's ambassador to Russia Dmitry Medoyev and leader of the Communist Party Stanislav Kochiyev.

Preparations for the elections are proceeding in a calm atmosphere, there is no foreign power trying to interfere in the elections. The Kremlin is ready to cooperate with anyone who will be elected, while Georgia opposes all candidates.

It's very important for South Ossetia's statehood to hold transparent elections. There is a good chance that these polls will be truly free and fair.

Alexey Vlasov