New appointment further strengthens ruling party’s positions in South Ossetia

A member of South Ossetia’s ruling party, United Ossetia, has been appointed as chairman of the parliament’s legislative issues committee, dashing the opposition’s desperate bid to bag at least one post carrying some clout in the parliament.

Apart from the ruling party, there are three other parties in the parliament – the Popular Party, People’s Unity and Nykhas, who together hold just 14 of the parliament’s 34 seats.

The three groups planned to come together to form an opposition coalition once; however, they gave up on the idea after the leader of United Ossetia Anatoly Bibilov had been elected as president of the republic in 2017.

[su_quote]South Ossetia: last election conducted the old way[/su_quote]

The leader of the People’s Unity party Vladimir Kelekhsayev told Ekho Kavkaza that the opposition coalition plan had fallen through because ‘someone was promised a post, others were promised something else, and then they just broke up’.

“I would like to do something for the republic, but, the parliament being as it is, no changes are possible,” he said. “The only thing left to do now is get ready for the [next] parliamentary election.”

The election will take place in 2019. For the first time ever, South Ossetian MPs will be elected through a mixed member proportional representation scheme.

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