In the middle of November South Ossetia will hold presidential elections. It will be one of the most competitive campaigns in the whole history of this young state. The agenda for South Ossetian society is being renewed, new politicians are appearing. There is only one unchanged factor: the obvious preferences of the population for Russia. According to social polls, more than 90% of South Ossetia’s population supports the idea of close integration with Russia.
Meanwhile, the Russian Federation follows the process of the establishment of South Ossetian statehood with interest. The presidential campaign is being covered by the Russian media and analyzed by well-known experts.
Along with positive moments of growth in political culture, some political forces are trying to use the so-called Russian factor, i.e. the popularity of the big neighbor and Russian authority in local society. Such a situation was characteristic of other countries of the former Soviet Union space, but in South Ossetia this tendency is very clear.
In many cases, the politicians who speak about close ties with the Kremlin cannot provide any examples and mistake wishes for reality. For example, one of the most interesting figures in South Ossetia is Dzambolat Tedeyev. His name reminds us of the scandal, in which the Central Electoral Commission rejected him as a candidate for the presidential post. However, the current president, Kokoyty, give an accurate appraisal of the situation: “I agree with the CEC’s decision. Tedeyev is not a citizen of South Ossetia. Even though he has all the rights for receiving citizenship, he has never addressed the authorities of the republic with a request for it. The passport, which he produced to the Central Electoral Commission, has never been given to him by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of our republic.”
It is interesting that after his actual isolation Mr. Tedeyev preferred to give interviews to the Georgian and Western media, rather than the South Ossetian and Russian mass media. According to the authorities of South Ossetia, nobody had any intention of attacking his house or using force, but Tbilisi was glad to spread other versions.
The Ossetian People’s Front states that the structure is heartily supported by the top management of Russia. One of the candidates for the presidential post, the head of the state committee on information, communication and the media of South Ossetia, Georgy Kabisov, has recently stated his support for the ideas and aims of the Ossetian People’s Front within the All-Russian People’s Front of Vladimir Putin – of International Russia. At first sight it seems that the organization isn’t participating directly in the election campaign. However, South Ossetian experts believe this is the real objective of the young structure. It is easy to make voters think in such a direction: “Are you for Russia? Are you for Putin? Are you for the Ossetian People’s Front? Then you are for… (necessary surname).”
It is obvious that such “projects” are developed by well-known Russian political technologists with bad reputations, who have already shown their limits during the recent election campaign in Abkhazia, and now they are trying to repeat the same scheme in South Ossetia. Such steps cause not only reasonable surprise, but create a negative image for the brand People’s Front, which is used by many countries of the CIS for rapprochement with Russia.
One more candidate for the presidential post is Anatoly Bibilov, who is a professional soldier, a general, the minister for civil defense, emergency situations and disaster control of South Ossetia. According to the Ministry of Defense and other force structures of Russia, this man is respected by the Russian military elite. Bibilov met officials of Russia and discussed its election programme, which contains many important ideas. The Russian media reports that Bibilov’s position is supported by the Russian authorities. I especially want to emphasize his words: “We build our state based on democracy. It is important all our citizens are involved in this process. Everyone should feel he or she is necessary for the country. Only when an individual resident of the republic participates in establishing statehood, and asks himself “What have I done for my motherland?”, can we say we are moving forward and transforming the international community’s view on the legal sovereignty of South Ossetia.” These words make us hope that the republic has candidates who can take responsibility and work for the nation’s prosperity.
Alexei Vlasov. Exclusively to VK.
