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S. Ossetia Supreme Court begins election review

RIA Novosti

14:20 29/11/2011 TSKHINVALI, November 29 (RIA Novosti) - South Ossetia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday began reviewing a complaint over violations during the November 27 runoff presidential elections.

With the official outcome yet to be announced, the two candidates in the race have both claimed victory.

As of Monday, former education minister Alla Dzhioyeva, the opposition candidate, had 56.74 percent of the vote with 74 of 85 districts tallied, the Central Electoral Commission said. But Dzhioyeva's rival, Emergencies Minister Anatoly Bibilov, claimed to have a seven-percentage point lead in the voting.

The Central Electoral Commission on Monday said it would postpone the announcement of the official results after the ruling Unity party filed a complaint over violations during the election campaign.

The final outcome of the election will not be published until the Supreme Court rules on the complaint.

The court hearing began after a delay of more than three hours. Bibilov accuses his rival of illegally campaigning at polling stations.

Dzhioyeva and her staff boycotted the hearing. The candidate said she considers herself the official winner and urged her supporters to stage a rally in downtown Tskhinvali.

“The Central Electoral Commission has signed the results protocol. All the fifteen members of the commission signed the document, thus proving my victory; my victory is the people’s victory,” Dzhioyeva said.

Hundreds of Dzhioyeva’s backers are currently moving towards the Central Electoral Commission’s building to demand official publication of the run-off results. The security services are not taking any action.

There is yet no official reaction from Russia. Ethnic Russians make up between 3 and 5 percent of South Ossetia's total population.

A runoff was required because none of the candidates received a majority of votes in the first round on November 13. Dzhioyeva and Bibilov came in neck-and-neck with just over 25 percent each.

The winner will replace Eduard Kokoity, the two-term president of the breakaway Georgian republic.

South Ossetia and Abkhazia broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s. Georgian forces attempted to bring South Ossetia back under central control in August 2008, but were repelled by the Russian military. Russia subsequently recognized both republics, and later Nicaragua, Venezuela and the tiny island nations of Nauru and Vanuatu followed suit.