All politicians in South Ossetia participating in the parliamentary election campaign are united in supporting the strategic choice in favor of Russia, said Sergey Markedonov, an assistant professor at the Department of Foreign Regional Studies and Foreign Policy of the RSUH.
Parliamentary elections in South Ossetia will be held on June 9th. The CEC registered seven parties in a single constituency - these are United Ossetia, Unity of the People, Nykhas, the People’s Party, the Communist Party, Unity and Fydybasta. Also, 98 candidates are running for elections in 17 single-member constituencies, of which 60 are nominees from parties and 38 are self-nominated.
"What unites all South Ossetian politicians is the support of the strategic choice in favor of Russia. From this side, it seems, there are no surprises to expect," wrote Markedonov on Thursday in the Telegram channel of the Center for Political Technologies named after Igor Bunin.
For the first time in 15 years, elections to the South Ossetian parliament will be held through a mixed system. Half of all parliamentarians out of 34 will be selected on party lists, half will be represented by single-mandate deputies. “As a result, attempts of parties to get famous characters in South Ossetia into their ranks,” noted Markedonov.
As the expert has stressed, the impression that the value of parliamentary elections in a presidential republic is not so great is deceptive. “It should be noted that this will be the first campaign to elect deputies for President Anatoly Bibilov. He will be able to assess how much his position has been strengthened (or, on the contrary, weakened) compared to 2017, when he, at that time, parliamentary speaker, won the main election, "said Markedonov.
The expert also pointed to an interesting precedent that is being created during the current campaign. Two ex-presidents of South Ossetia, Leonid Tibilov and Eduard Kokoity, have views of the parliament.
Tibilov tries himself in a new capacity - a candidate for deputy, which, according to Markedonov, is a "kind of test" that will answer the question about the available resources to support this politician.
“Another former South Ossetian leader, Eduard Kokoity, despite the fact that since 2011 he has been living outside the Republic, is trying to maintain his influence in it. And in the course of the current campaign, he seeks to enlist the support of the leading parties. However, it’s impossible to say with particular success "- said the expert.
