By Ekaterina Tesemnikova and Alexei Vlasov, exclusively to “VK”
South Ossetia is due to hold presidential elections in two weeks. Most local experts say that they are unlikely to be wrecked. People believe the upcoming vote to be a step towards a better future, while the authorities call on the people to vote for the candidate that offers the most efficient and clear program. To tell the truth, the choice of candidates is pretty wide: ex-head of local KGB Leonid Tibilov, ombudsman David Sanakoev, South Osseti Ambassador to Russia Dmitry Medoyev and the leader of the local communist party Stanislav Kochiyev. According to the experts, only Kochiyev has a stable pool of supporters, while other candidates have to attract supporters by campaigning, and that evens their chances.
David Sanakoyev can face serious problems in attracting a wide pool of supporters: on the eve on the March, 8 celebration he harshly criticized the government’s decision on simplifying the Russian-Osseti border regime. According to him such a ‘demarche’ damages Ossetia’s image as a sovereign state. “Every official should think of consolidating our international position, but our President breaks our state boarder laws instead”.
Not everyone understood what caused such indignation on the part of the presidential candidate. His rivals have pointed out that an ombudsman should protect the civic rights of his fellow citizens, including the right for freedom of movement and for communication with their friends and relatives residing in neighboring states. Another principle concern for ombudsman is the economic wealthier of the citizens – and for South Ossetia, which is under a blockade as far as Georgia is concerned, the principle source of this wealthier is the connection with Russia. The elimination of the Upper Ruk checkpoint boosted the turnover between Russia and South Ossetia which in the end would lead to the intensification of the business life in the South Osseti Republic.
According to Sanakov, however, such issues should be addressed only after the elections. There are not many of those who agreed that the issue wasn’t in fact urgent, but if we regard this claim of Sanakov as a campaigning move, we’ll see that he hoped t win the support of those who see the consolidation of Ossetia’s position on the international scene as the state’s top priority. However, the major part of Osseti population is preoccupied by completely different problems: where to live, where to work and how to provide for their families. And many understand that political instability won’t contribute to the solution of these problems, so they intend to participate in the vote.
The head of the Central Election Committee, Bella Pliyeva, said that there is no risk of wrecking the elections. “We’ve done all we could to ensure calm voting process”. According to Pliyeva, after March, 25 a new era of political development will start in the country. All candidates pledged to conduct ‘clean’ campaigns, and they stick to their word so far. However, the pre-election situation is still complex. According to Medoyev, there are two reasons for that. “First of all, people remember what happened last year. Secondly, the power lost the people’s trust. But I hope that people understand that those who try to cling to the power by all means are interested in a low turnout. However, it is still very important for us not to cross the line that separates competition from enmity.
