Int'l community to deny recognition to South Ossetia election, referendum - Tbilisi
TBILISI. April 10 (Interfax) - The Sunday presidential election in South Ossetia and the referendum renaming that republic have nothing to do with the international law, Georgian State Minister on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Viktor Dolidze said.
"They will never be recognized by the international community," Dolidze told reporters on Monday.
In turn, Georgian State Minister on Reconciliation and Civic Equality Ketevan Tsikhelashvili called the South Ossetian election and referendum 'absurd'.
"The Tskhinval district cordoned off with barbed wire has become a closed space, and it is very hard for people to see the future from there," Tsikhelashvili said.
On Sunday, South Ossetia held a presidential election and a referendum on changing its formal name from the Republic of South Ossetia to the Republic of South Ossetia - the State of Alania.
A report posted by the South Ossetian Central Elections Commission after 35% of the votes had been counted said that Parliament speaker and United Ossetia party leader Anatoly Bibilov gained 48.7% of the vote, incumbent President Leonid Tibilov had 26.5%, and KGB officer Alan Gagloyev had 19.1%. Some 5.7% of voters rejected all candidates. A victory in the first round of the election requires 50% plus one vote.
Most voters (78%) supported the republic's name of South Ossetia - the State of Alania.
