New president and new name

In South Ossetia on Sunday, April 9, the presidential elections were held, which were combined with a referendum on the renaming of the republic. If the change of name is a beautiful symbol, then the struggle for the president’s post was real.

In the presidential election, the speaker of the local parliament, the leader of the United Ossetia party Anatoly Bibilov (57.98%) won. The current head of state Leonid Tibilov is doubled by him (30%). Moreover, published immediately after the end of the vote, the Eccit Polel data said that the current president won. The third candidate, an employee of the State Security Committee (KGB) Alan Gagloev is gaining 11.01%. 5.7%voted against all three candidates, the turnout exceeded 80%.

Voting in South Ossetia April 9, 2017 "Res" / Cominf.org

To win the first round of elections, the candidate needs to gain more than 50% of the vote, so Bibilov announced his victory at night. “In our hands, all protocols, according to our headquarters, our absolute victory is 54.9%. There will be no second round, ”Bibilov said at night, before the publication of the final voting results.

The inauguration of the elected president according to the Constitution should be held 10 days after the publication of the results of the elections in the media.

Earlier, Bibilov attracted attention when in January 2015, on the eve of the signing of a new agreement on the Union with Russia, he proposed entering South Ossetia into Russia. Usually, South Ossetian politicians speak quite neatly on this subject, if only because it is very painful for Moscow.

A. Bibilov and L. Tibilov sign an application for the transfer of a referendum on the entry of South Ossetia into the Russian Federation for 2017 of the IA "Res" / Cominf.org

So if the new president of South Ossetia will actively advocate the integration of the republic in Russia, this may become a problem for official Moscow, it is clearly the inclusion of a new region in Russia is not included in the Kremlin’s immediate plans.

Also on Sunday, more than 78% of voters spoke out for the renaming of the Republic of South Ossetia into the state of Alania. Now, after making appropriate changes to the country's constitution, the country will be officially called "the Republic of South Ossetia - the state of Alania."

The story with a referendum on renaming is quite interesting. On the one hand, it can be assumed that by the adoption of a new name, South Ossetia wants to become closer to the North - she joined the word “Alania” in 1994, during the adoption of the current constitution.

But, of course, the reason for the Ossetian love for the name Alania has much deeper roots. Alans are an Iranian -speaking people who created its state in the North Caucasus at the beginning of the 1st millennium - this was one of the first states in the region, it was finally destroyed during the invasion of the Mongols. For South Ossetia, succession from Alans is also important in that ancient Alania, of course, had a long history of relations with Georgia, and often they were equal partners.

Ingushetia, Magas, 2015. The opening ceremony of the entrance arch "Alanian gates in Ingushetia.ru

However, several more nations claim the right to be considered the heirs of Alans - Karachais, Balkars and Ingush. The new capital of Ingushetia, which began to be built in the mid-1990s, was even named Magas, in honor of the ancient capital of Alans. So the desire of the Ossetians to “stake” the ancient name is understandable and, moreover, bears the fruit, is now difficult to find supporters of the version that the successors of the Alans are Ingush or Balkars.