by Yekaterina Tesemnikova, Alexey Vlasov exclusively for VK
The Central Electoral Commission of South Ossetia has received ballot papers for the presidential polls on March 25, 10 days prior to the vote. CEC head Bella Pliyeva said that “a total of 40,000 voting papers have been printed”. Observers say that people will visit polling stations and make a choice they will not regret for five years. Doubtlessly, several months after the previous votes (the results of which are invalid), South Ossetia has taken a serious step towards forming a responsible civil society. 17 candidates ran for president at the end of last year and there are only 4 now. Experts point out quantitative and qualitative differences, stating that the key points of their programs essential for society are common.
The struggle between the four candidates is quite civilized. There is no global interference of foreign interests, although Tskhinvali has recently held a conference of the South Ossetian branch of the Russian Nationwide Union. Its head, Georgy Kabisov, said that “an active campaign of mud-slinging has started in the last months, foes of our country and some media, especially Western ones, distorted facts and spread lies”. “Destabilization in the region was organized and is organized by American and Georgian special services,” Kabisov insisted after the previous presidential polls as candidate for president. Although he left the office as head of the State Committee for Communication and Press of South Ossetia at the end of last year, he is still the leader of the South Ossetian branch of the Russian Nationwide Union and remains resistant to all political stresses.
Stanislav Kochiyev, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, has spoken about another threat to the stability of South Ossetia, warning about a constitutional coup. Kochiyev said that the his campaign headquarters received “distressing information” that South Ossetian Prosecutor General Taymuraz Khugayev “has activated lobbying of the switch of the constitutional system of the republic from a presidential form to a parliamentary one.” He is negotiating with MPs and officials, persuading them. “We know that the prosecutor general is planning to vote on the issue in the near future. In light of the presidential campaign, such actions should be qualified as an attempt at a constitutional coup. Such an attempt was made during the previous elections and was prevented. But this time the former president’s team is trying to keep power from slipping away. If the parliament shows weakness and votes for a change of the constitutional system, the country will be ruled by the chairman of parliament, and Eduard Kokoity, leader of the ruling party, wants to become that and not the president elected on March 25.
Another candidate for president, Dmitry Medoyev, is also concerned about the situation. He said that forces trying to “split South Ossetian society and destabilize the socio-political situation have begun taking action for their own selfish interests. Lies and false information against every candidate have already begun, they will be followed by blackmail and threats, as well as bribing of “one's own candidates”, but what is more ominous is social stability in the republic. There are attempts to disrupt the presidential polls of South Ossetia set for March 25. I refer to these forces as Prosecutor General Taymuraz Khugayev, who has urgently arrived in the republic, and his mastermind, former President Eduard Kokoity. I will do my best to bring about the resignation of Prosecutor General Khugayev and rid the republic of this threat”.
Acting President of South Ossetia Vadim Brovtsev has twice sent a request to the parliament for the dismissal of Khugayev. The step makes experts believe that Kochiyev, Medoyev and Brovtsev are players on the same team. However, other experts say that the acting leader and the two other potential ones have different goals. Some express rather harsh views, hinting that “the interests of Brovtsev’s team, which are no better than that of Kokoyev, are far from Russian-Ossetian”. Whether this is so or not will be clear after the elections. Medoyev made a felicitous remark, saying that the people of South Ossetia need to return what they have almost lost recently – unity and freedom of faith in the absolute values of ours: freedom, independence and the rule of the people.
