South Ossetian FM: Results of referendum and elections is exhaustive response to all international institutions

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“A nationwide referendum and presidential elections took place in the Republic of South Ossetia on Nov 12, 2006. According to the official preliminary results, the absolute majority of citizens, almost 99%, have voted for the independence of the Republic of South Ossetia. Of the four presidential hopefuls, Eduard Kokoity has received 96% of the votes. 95% of the South Ossetian citizens have attended the voting – an unprecedented turnout,” says the South Ossetian Foreign Ministry in its special report.

A REGNUM correspondent reports the FM to say that “international observers from 17 countries of Europe, Asia and America, including Georgia, and from international organizations took part in the preparations for and the conduct of the referendum and the elections and registered no single violation. Even more, they noted that the voting took place in an exceptionally calm atmosphere and fully complied with the Constitution and the Electoral Code of the Republic of South Ossetia. The voting was so well-organized and transparent and the voters were so active that this process can really be an example for many countries declaring commitment to the democratic principles and norms. An international press center was opened in Tskhinval a few days before the referendum and the elections to allow mass media to freely cover the events.”

“On the day of the voting, the situation in the Republic of South Ossetia was calm. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the Georgian law enforcers illegally deployed in some mostly-Georgian settlements prevented local residents from voting and the latter were forced to search for roundabout ways to get to the polling stations and to vote in the only legal referendum and presidential elections in the territory of the Republic of South Ossetia.”

“The referendum and the presidential elections in South Ossetia are the most objective indicator of the level of democracy in the republic and fully reflect the political will of the South Ossetian people. Their results are an exhaustive response to the positions and statements of the states and international organizations who declaratively refuse to recognize the results of the free will of the people of the Republic of South Ossetia for the sake of the mythical ‘territorial integrity’ of its neighbor state,” says the South Ossetian Foreign Ministry.