Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Ossetia Dmitry Medoev, in conclusion of his visit to Italy, visited the capital of the Veneto region, Venice, where he held a consultative referendum on expanding the autonomy of the region.
As reported by the press service of the republic's foreign ministry, during the visit, Dmitry Medoev met with the deputy of the Veneto legislature, Dr. Luciano Sandona, responsible for the referendum in the region. The Foreign Minister of South Ossetia has also been able to familiar himself with the voting process.
In addition, on the same day, Dmitry Medoev held talks with the head of the regional council (parliament) Veneto Roberto Chambetti.
During the conversation, an interested exchange of views took place on a wide range of issues, in particular, regarding the exercise of the citizens' rights to free expression of will. Roberto Chambetti told the South Ossetian diplomat about preparations for a plebiscite in Veneto, about the high activity of the population during the voting. In turn, Medoev drew attention to the historical aspects of holding referendums in South Ossetia, which allowed solving the most important issues of the formation of the statehood of the Republic.
The parties also stressed the importance of carrying out processes related to ensuring the rights and freedoms of citizens, exclusively in a peaceful channel.
"My stay in Italy coincided with the important event that is taking place in the Veneto region. We, the representatives of South Ossetia, are extremely interested in how the voting on the regional referendum on autonomy is going on here, how the rights of voters are ensured, how conditions for the free expression of the will of citizens are created, "Dmitry Medoev said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic stressed that five referendums had been held in South Ossetia over the past 25 years, the last of which took place on April 9, 2017.
"We know firsthand how important referendums are for the future population. So we will closely watch how this process is organized in Veneto, for us it is important, "Medoev said.
In the course of the regional referendum held on Sunday, more than 98% of the citizens who voted on Veneto voted for the autonomy of their region. According to the election commission, the turnout was over 57%.
In accordance with the Constitution of Italy a number of areas of the country, including Sicily and Sardinia have a special autonomy. The same status applies to Veneto and Lombardy, where a referendum on autonomy also took place.
The holding of the referendum was a serious success of the "League of the North" party, with the leadership of which representatives of South Ossetia held a number of meetings in previous years. In particular, in October 2015, Anatoly Bibilov, as Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic, during his visit to Italy, held talks with the leader of the League of the North Matteo Salvini, discussing the prospects for further cooperation.
