Legislative Election in South Ossetia (2009)

On March 12, 2009, President of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoity signed a decree calling for the election of deputies of the parliament of the Republic of South Ossetia of the fifth convocation on May 31, 2009 ^[1] .

On April 6, 2009, the central election commissions of Russia and South Ossetia signed a five-year cooperation protocol ^[2] .

On April 7, 2009, a congress of the Fydybast party was held in Tskhinval, the leader of which is Vyacheslav Gobozov (the party was not represented in the parliament of the fourth convocation, but was part of the parliament of the third convocation).

On April 9, 2009, a congress of the Communist Party of the Republic of South Ossetia took place ^[3] .

On April 10, 2009, a congress of the Unity Republican Political Party was held in Tskhinval. At the congress, party members asked to head the list to the president of South Ossetia, who took part in the congress, but he refused. The list was headed by party chairman Zurab Kokoev ^[4] .

The greatest difficulties faced the People's Party of the Republic of South Ossetia , positioning itself as an opposition. There was a split in it. On April 8, 2009, a congress of the People’s Party was held with 53 delegates chaired by A. Gassiev, a member of the party’s council, who was authorized to hold the congress by party chairman R. Kelekhsaev. Another congress of the People’s Party took place on April 10, 2009 with 132 delegates chaired by a member of the Party Council, a member of the Union of Defenders of Ossetia public organization V. Bibilov, who, by voting, removed R. Kelekhsayev from the party’s leadership for gross violations of the principles of party discipline and the Party’s Charter ^[5] and elected as chairman Kazimir Pliev ^[6] . At this congress, President of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoity spoke. Later, on April 17, the CEC of the Republic of South Ossetia decided that the People’s Party of South Ossetia, headed by K. Pliev, would be admitted to the parliamentary elections ^[7] .

Later, the Fydybast Socialist Party also had problems. CEC of South Ossetia refused to register its leader V. Gobozov ^[8] .

On May 21, 2009, the South Ossetian opposition declared itself in Moscow ^[9] . On this day, several dozen people tried to arrange an unauthorized rally in front of the State Duma of the Russian Federation with slogans like "Russia, help stop the arbitrariness of the elections in South Ossetia." About thirty protesters were detained, among them was Albert Dzhussoyev, a South Ossetian businessman who claims to be the leader of the opposition. Commenting on the rally, the plenipotentiary representative of the Republic of South Ossetia in the Russian Federation D. Medoev noted that no South Ossetian opposition exists in Moscow, and the authors of the unauthorized rally on Manezhnaya Square have been living in Moscow for several years and have almost nothing to do with South Ossetia. At the same time, “their actions are provocative and aimed at disrupting the parliamentary elections on May 31 in South Ossetia. The action, to some extent, discredits Russia, so we regard the actions of the so-called “opposition” as a provocation ” ^[10] .

On May 30, 2009, the media reported that relatives of A. Dzhussoyev were detained in Kvais ^[11] . Indeed, the nephew of businessman Ludwig Dzhussoev was detained on charges of sticking up leaflets from an interview with A. Dzhussoev and was released the next day, May 31 ^[12] .

In anticipation of the election, special attention was paid to compiling voter lists and the passportization of residents of the Leningor region, necessary to participate in the election of the parliament (the passportization process was carried out from April 15 to May 15, 2009) ^[13] .

On May 19, 2009, the CEC of the Republic of South Ossetia opened a hotline on the organization of elections and voting ^[14] .

95 polling stations were opened for the elections ^[15] , of which 88 in South Ossetia: 18 in Tskhinvali, 14 in the Tskhinvali region, 21 in the Dzhava region, 12 in the Znauri district, 22 in the Leningor region. Several sites were opened in the Russian Federation: 6 - in North Ossetia ^[16] , 1 - in Moscow.

According to the CEC of the Republic of South Ossetia, 55,980 voters were included in the electoral lists. Precinct election commissions received 58,171 ballots. Voters received 44,547 ballots in the polling stations, and 1,319 ballots outside such premises (in portable ballot boxes). In total, 45,866 voters took part in the elections (81.93% of the voters included in the voting lists). 1,110 ballots were invalidated, 8 were lost and 2 ballots were not taken into account upon receipt.

According to South Ossetian legislation, elections are recognized as having taken place at a turnout of 50% plus one vote ^[17] . The elections were monitored by more than 100 observers from more than 20 countries. The largest number of observers came from the Russian Federation: from the Council of the Federation of Russia , the State Duma of Russia , the CEC of the Russian Federation . Election monitoring was carried out by representatives of the Young Guard of United Russia , the Russian Free Elections Foundation, the Moscow Bureau of Human Rights , the Public Chamber of Russia , the Russian Public Institute of Electoral Law, and the Presidential Council for the Promotion of the Development of Civil Society Institutions ^[17] .

As a result of the elections, the Communist Party of the Republic of South Ossetia received 22.25% of the vote (8 deputy mandates), the Republican political party Unity - 46.38% (17 deputy mandates), the Republican Socialist Party Fydybasta ("Fatherland") - 6.37%; People's Party of the Republic of South Ossetia - 22.58% (9 deputy mandates).

As a result of elections to the supreme legislative body of the Republic of South Ossetia, three parties were held, since the Fydybasta party did not gain the required 7% of the vote.

Some parties in South Ossetia do not agree with the election results ^[19] . The leader of the Communist Party, S. Kochiev, notes that voters who voted in North Ossetia played a significant role. It is assumed that the course of further actions will be understandable after considering the results according to observers and identifying the facts of violations received orally. The leader of the Fydybast party V. Gobozov also expresses dissatisfaction with the election results. He stated that “there are great suspicions that we will find a lot of people who voted in different polls, and a lot of people who do not exist in nature. Last week, we submitted an application to the CEC to provide us with voter lists, but the CEC did not even accept our application. He referred to the fact that they do not accept applications from parties. ” the party intends to submit a new application and, in case of refusal to accept it, apply to the courts. At the same time, the Central Executive Committee of South Ossetia refutes the statement of V. Gobozov on filing an application from his party.

At the international level, assessments of past elections are mixed.

A group of observers led by the chairman of the CEC of the Russian Federation Vladimir Churov did not record serious violations. According to Churov, “the organization was at the highest level, there were very minor comments” ^[20] .

The observer mission from non-governmental organizations of the Russian Federation and the CIS countries recognized the elections as free, open and consistent with international electoral standards. The mission included 20 observers from the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tajikistan and the Transnistrian Moldavian Republic ^[21] .

The international observer from Germany, Wendt Heinz, stated that the elections fully comply with European criteria: “I am a member of the Organization for the Protection of Human Rights and the Dignity of Citizens. Compared with our elections, in my opinion, there are no differences; everything goes in a democratic way ” ^[22] .

One of the observers, MEP Julietto Chiesa stated that there were no violations during the vote ^[23] .

As the President of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoity stated, “it was the will of our people and our republic our statehood passed the next maturity test” ^[24] . Earlier, Kokoity called the NATO exercises in Georgia during the election period (at the Vaziani military base in a suburb of Tbilisi) a provocation and an attempt to put pressure on the population of South Ossetia ^[25] .

The US Department of State did not recognize the election results ^[26] . The Czech Presidency of the European Union called the election “illegitimate” ^[27] . The election also did not recognize the NATO military bloc ^[28] . According to the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Andrei Nesterenko, the United States and the European Union gave an unjustifiably sharp assessment of the past election. In his opinion, the elections became "a serious factor of stability and further democratic development," and the United States and the European Union are trying to "rob the people of the right to build their own lives" ^[29] .

The deputy chairman of the Duma committee on international affairs Leonid Slutsky noted that the legitimacy of the elections is beyond doubt. According to him, the legislative framework of the republic meets the required democratic international standards. Slutsky criticized the position of the European Union, calling it "the predicted manifestation of" double standards "." Slutsky recalled that the OSCE , which refused to send observers to South Ossetia, at the end of 2007 recognized the elections in Kosovo , in which mainly Albanians participated, noting: “The facts of the formation of authorities, including legislative ones, in this Serbian province became part of Marti Ahtisaari’s plan for separating Kosovo from Serbia ... Then they were silent about territorial integrity and the settlement of interethnic conflicts ” ^[30] .

• Pakhomenko V. South Ossetia on the eve of the elections // Polit.ru May 31, 2009
• Pakhomenko V. Silence and Elections // Polit.ru June 7, 2009
• From the history of parliamentarism of South Ossetia // IA OSinform
• Legislative Election 2009: an attempt to take stock // Ministry of Press and Mass Communications of the Republic of South Ossetia