Translated material
Attack of the Clones
Parliamentary elections in South Ossetia do not look entirely equal in advance
As expected by the Vremya Novostey newspaper, during the holidays the election commission of South Ossetia decided on who it would allow to participate in the elections of the new parliament of this republic, scheduled for May 31. Four parties are participating in the competition for 34 seats in the republican parliament - the presidential Unity party, created to support the incumbent President Eduard Kokoity during the period when he first nominated his candidacy, the traditionally strong communists, as well as the People's Party and the Fatherland party. There are problems with the last two that threaten to turn into a serious pre-election scandal and discredit the election procedure itself. Instead of the People's Party, the election commission of the republic actually registered its clone, and Fatherland was decapitated - the commission refused to register the party leader Vyacheslav Gobozov as the number one candidate on the party list.South Ossetia and Russia, as the main and only supporter, sponsor and patron of its independence, are vitally interested in ensuring that the parliamentary election procedure is as fair and transparent as possible. Otherwise, only the lazy would not accuse Moscow of “a cynical imitation of democracy on territory seized from Georgia,” and the chance for wider international recognition of South Ossetia will remain illusory.
Scandals, however, began during the party congresses held in Tskhinvali in the first half of April. Unity and the Communists did not have any problems: both parties relatively calmly formed lists and submitted documents to the election commission. Fatherland also held a congress, but due to the fact that there were no deputies from this party in the current parliament, signatures were now required for registration. Their number in small South Ossetia, by the standards of Russian regional elections, is ridiculous - there should be only 500 signatures. By the way, Fatherland was not in the current parliament not because it was unable to win several mandates in a fair fight with its opponents. This party, one of the oldest in the republic, was simply not allowed to participate in the elections.
Of course, signatures were collected and submitted. But the election commission found a flaw in the party list: from the point of view of the Tskhinvali authorities, party leader Vyacheslav Gobozov has not lived in the republic in the last few years and therefore has no right to run for parliament. Mr. Gobozov himself claims that he has all the documents in his hands confirming the fact of his registration in his native South Ossetian village. But the election commission seems adamant.
The list of “Fatherland” consists of ten names and begins with the leader’s brother, Stanislav Gobozov. However, in the Caucasus it is customary to vote not so much for a party and program, but for a specific person, so Fatherland can literally be considered decapitated. Party members believe that the real problem with registering the list in its original form arose due to the refusal of the Fatherland leadership to include candidates who were loyal to the president and had nothing to do with the party. Fatherland, however, does not despair and is still ready to claim about a third of the seats in parliament.
The People's Party, which had three deputies in the current parliament, also held its congress in Tskhinvali in early April. Its leader, South Ossetian parliament member Roland Keleskhaev, was unable to personally attend the event, since entering and staying in the republic is dangerous for him due to his extremely harsh criticism of the current political regime. Nevertheless, the list, headed by Mr. Keleskhaev, was formed and submitted to the election commission, where it was even accepted. But a day later, another congress of the People’s Party took place in Tskhinvali, at which completely different people removed Roland Keleskhaev from leadership and drew up the list anew. It was headed by politician Kazimir Pliev, loyal to the president, and South Ossetian KGB officer Sergei Kharebov was included in the top three to be sure. This list, blessed by the president, was also adopted by the election commission. The documents of Mr. Keleskhaev's supporters lay there for several days and were, according to him, returned without any legal justification. The oppositionist has already been rejected in court, but still hopes to restore justice.
It remains unclear why the South Ossetian authorities needed to make such efforts to blockade a party that is hardly capable of rising seriously above the 7 percent threshold (as in the Duma elections in neighboring Russia). This can only be explained by extreme self-doubt.
Meanwhile, in addition to the traditionally passive voting masses in South Ossetia, there are armed participants in the battles with the Georgian army in August last year and during previous campaigns. Not all of them sympathize with the current president. And the very presence of this specific social group forces us to carefully analyze the possible consequences of mass dissatisfaction with the official voting results.
A rating of parties was published on the website of the South Ossetian Ministry of Press and Mass Communications at the end of April. Oddly enough for such an official source, it still looks very disappointing for Unity. It is in fourth place after the communists (28%), the “candidate “against everyone” (about 24%), and Fatherland with 18%. Unity has 17%. This is ridiculously little different from the 13% of the People's Party, which is clearly not among the favorites in either the original or the cloned version.