Two Candidates Claim Victory at S. Ossetia’s Presidential Elections

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">MOSCOW (RIA Novosti)- With official results of South Ossetia’s November 27 runoff presidential election yet to be announced, the two participants of the race on Monday both claimed victory, local media said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">So far, former education minister Alla Dzhioyeva, the opposition candidate, has 56.74 percent of the vote with 74 of 85 districts tallied, the republic’s Central Electoral Commission said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">But Dzhioyeva's rival, Emergencies Minister Anatoly Bibilov, claims to have a seven-percentage point lead in the voting.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Bibilov was seen as <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Moscow</st1:city></st1:place>’s favored candidate and was widely expected to win. The politician called for "a new beginning" in the region, which still carries scars from the war between <st1:country-region w:st="on">Georgia</st1:country-region> and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region></st1:place> in 2008.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">On Monday, Dzhioyeva called on Bibilov to concede defeat. “The public has passed its judgment on the ruling power,” she said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">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. A decision whether the complaint is lawful or not will be taken by the republic’s Supreme Court.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Bibilov said he will accept the court's ruling, adding that there are grounds to distrust data provided by the Central Electoral Commission.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">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.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The winner will replace Eduard Kokoity, the two-term president of the breakaway Georgian republic.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The former Georgian republics South Ossetia and Abkhazia broke away from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Georgia</st1:country-region></st1:place> in the early 1990s. Georgian forces attempted to bring <st1:place w:st="on">South Ossetia</st1:place> back under central control in August 2008, but were repelled by the Russian military. <st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region> subsequently recognized both republics, and later <st1:country-region w:st="on">Nicaragua</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Venezuela</st1:country-region> and the tiny island nations of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Nauru</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vanuatu</st1:place></st1:country-region> followed suit.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><span>  </span><o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Two Candidates Claim Victory at S. Ossetia’s Presidential Elections

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti)- With official results of South Ossetia’s November 27 runoff presidential election yet to be announced, the two partic...

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