Caucasian Press Review (November 30 - December 6)
Caucasus domestic and foreign political events in the local press
Caucasus domestic and foreign political events in the local press
The Koba and Truso Gorges are Ossetian land, sanctuaries and graves of ancestors of the Ossetians are located there, but that's why these territories should be returned to South Ossetia, the ex-President Eduard Kokoity said yesterday in an interview devoted to the upcoming fifth anniversary of the recognition of the independence of South Ossetia. The Head of the Department for Caucasian Studies of the RISS, Yana Amelina, confirmed in a conversation with Vestnik Kavkaza that these lands should in fact be returned to the South Ossetian government.
South Ossetian ex-President Eduard Kokoity has taken part in setting the tablet of the Genocide Museum on the Sobornaya Square in Tskhinvali, RIA Novosti reports.President Leonid Tibilov said that reconstruction of the building destroyed during the war of 2008 will start in the near future.
The Supreme Court of South Ossetia has restored Stanislav Kochiyev as Speaker of Parliament, RIA Novosti reports.Kochiyev was initially dismissed on October 5, 2011, after a vote of censure.The official is the leader of the Communist Party of South Ossetia. The party supported President Leonid Tibilov.Zurab Kokoyev of the Unity Party has been the Acting Speaker of Parliament. The party is headed by former Ex-President Eduard Kokoity.
Leonid Tibilov, a candidate for president of South Ossetia, was attacked at a meeting with voters on the Street of Gafeza in Tskhinvali yesterday.
The republic is to make a choice “it will not regret for five years”
Dmitry Medoyev, South Ossetian Ambassador to Russia and a candidate for president of South Ossetia, said that he would dissolve the parliament, should he win the polls.Medoyev says that hostile forces are trying to provoke a split of society and distrust between candidates for president by publishing discrediting materials in media, pressurizing the Central Electoral Commission and the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court of North Ossetia has sentenced Albert Tsgoyev to 2.5 years of prison for murdering bodyguards of former South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity, RIA Novosti reports.35-year old Tsgoyev murdered Alim Kabulov, 30-year old brother of President Kokoity and Deputy Chief of the State Security Guards, and his fellow security officer Oleg Ikayev. The murder happened at the Retro Club of Vladikavkaz on May 20, 2011.
Stanislav Kochiyev, First Secretary of the Communist Party and candidate for president of South Ossetia, has warned about the risk of a coup.The official said that he has information on Prosecutor General Taymuraz Khugayev’s lobbying a switch of the constitutional system from presidential to parliamentary form of power.
South Ossetia opposition leader Alla Dzhioyeva told RIA Novosti on Sunday she had scheduled her inauguration as president of the former Georgian republic for February 10, RIA Novosti reports. “I will assume office on February 10. I can’t tell you about the place of the inauguration so far. I will turn to the South Ossetia acting head with a request for a civilized transfer of power as befits a legitimately elected president,” Dzhioyeva said.
Leader of the South Ossetian opposition, former presidential candidate Alla Dzhioyeva said she is waiting for a response from the acting President Vadim Brovtsev to the ultimatum on handing over power to her hands, ITAR-TASS reports.The opposition leader said she is not going to take part in the presidential elections scheduled for March 25 since she considers them illegitimate.The Central Election Commission has alerady registered four initiative groups. Among them, the initiative group nominate parliament deputy speaker Yuri Dzitstsoity.
South Ossetia opposition leader Alla Dzhioyeva, who won the November 27 presidential runoff which was later annulled by the Supreme Court, said on Saturday that she would not participate in the “illegitimate” presidential polls on March 25, RIA Novosti reported.
Will it be followed?
Teatralnaya Square in Tskhinvali, where hundreds of protesters had been gathering to support ex-candidate for president of South Ossetia Alla Jioyeva, has now emptied.
After a deal struck following the election turmoil in the Caucasus state of South Ossetia, President Eduard Kokoity is set to step down in just a few hours' time, RT reports. The opposition pledges to end protests after that.
The Washington Post published the article headlined “Presidential election in Georgia’s breakaway province of South Ossetia ends in tie.” It says that election commission head Bella Pliyeva said Monday that Anatoly Bibilov, the emergencies minister who has the support of Russia’s dominant pro-Kremlin party, and former education minister Alla Dzhioyeva each won about 25 percent of the vote Sunday. They will go head-to-head in a runoff to be held in two weeks. South Ossetia has been led since 2001 by Eduard Kokoity, who is stepping down after two terms.
The current president of South Ossetia, Eduard Kokoity, commenting on thepreliminary results of voting to elect a new president, ruledout the possibility of a female president. The Former Minister of Education,Alla Dzhioeva, has already received more than 24% of the vote and passed intothe second round along with the Minister of Emergency Situations, AnatolyBibilov, who also garnered a quarter of the votes.In an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda, Kokoity stressed that there is no prejudice against women in Ossetian
South Ossetia might finally receive a program of socio-economic development.
Another electoral incident occurred in Tskhinvali when Albert Gabarayev, a supporter of candidate for president Jambolat Tedeyev, was beaten up by the state security services of South Ossetia, Georgia Online reports.
South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity is marking his 47th birthday today, Res reports.CIS members and other states are sending him congratulation letters.