South Ossetia’s ruling party wins parliamentary elections, retains majority
The ruling United Ossetia party has won parliamentary elections in South Ossetia, and will retain a majority in parliament, having received at least 19 of the 37 mandates.
There were no reports of any violations, no falsifications were recorded, and all political parties recognized the election results.
And yet the day after the election things became tense – in the center of Tskhinval, candidate Alan Tadtaev was wounded by a pistol.
Tadtaev ran as an independent candidate, but lost in his district. Another candidate, Alan Zasseev, is suspected of having attacked him.
Tadtaev, however, was an accidental victim in the attack.
In fact, Zasseev was angry not at him, but at his rival in the single-member constituency No. 7, Valery Kokoyev, who represents the ruling party United Ossetia.
And the reason was an error of the election commission.
According to the law, if several candidates receive an equal number of votes in an election, the one who was registered first is considered elected. When the preliminary results of the voting were announced, Zasseev was declared the winner. But it soon became clear that the ruling United Ossetia party submitted its documents for registration before the rest. And consequently the representative of this party Valery Kokoev already appeared in the final results.
Disgruntled, Zasseev was looking for Kokoev and trying to start a fight. But the real conflict did not occur with a competitor – but with his friend Alan Tadtayev, whom he met in the middle of the day on June 10 in the popular Pioneer Park, where many families go to rest. And right there, the shooting took place.
Tadtaev was shot in the left arm. He ran to the presidential administration building located nearby, and there he was met by Parliament Speaker Petr Gassiev, who helped him get first aid.
There is no threat to Tadtaev’s life.
Results of parliamentary elections in South Ossetia
According to preliminary data, the ruling United Ossetia party will receive at least 19 mandates out of 37.
In the second and third places are the opposition People’s Party – supported by the leading oppositionist and ex-president Edward Kokoity – and Nykhas. It is difficult to say how many mandates each of them will receive at the time of publication.
The Unity of the People party and the Communist Party, which can receive one mandate, also overcame the 7% barrier.
1.24 percent of voters submitted their ballot “against all candidates.”
What coalition might be possible in the new parliament
Many experts say the the majority of majoritarian deputies will support the ruling party in parliament.
One of them, future MP Konstantin Kisiev, who won in district No. 5, has already announced that he will cooperate with the parliamentary majority of United Ossetia.
Issues during the voting process
The entire election day of June 9 was completely calm. No violations were recorded officially and not a single political party claimed anything either – with one exception.
The Nykhas party appealed to the prosecutor’s office with a complaint against the actions of a supporter of the ruling United Ossetia party in Vladikavkaz (North Ossetia, territory of the Russian Federation), who allegedly offered money to an elderly man to vote for this party.
A short video shot by a hidden camera has spread on social media, in which one man asks a supporter of the ruling party: “Why do you give this person money?”. He replies that this is his relative and he always helps him. However, the actual act of the money being transferred was not recorded.
Members of the United Ossetia called the event a “provocation” and “the dirty methods” of opponents. Verification of the incident was entrusted to the prosecutors of North Ossetia.
However, this case did not produce a serious public reaction and had no significant effect on the voting results.
