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Fundamental decisions made to end post-election standoff in SOssetia

South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity and Alla Dzhoyeva put their signatures to the agreement
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

TSKHINVAL, December 10 (Itar-Tass) —— South Ossetia’s authorities and the Opposition on Friday entered into a compromise agreement to create all conditions for normalizing the situation after several days of standoff since the November 27 presidential election run-of, which was fraught with serious excesses.

Under the concluded arrangements, South Ossetia will have an election rerun on March 25 and the former presidential candidate, Ala Dzhioyeva, will be able to take part in it. President Eduard Kokoity is leaving his post on Saturday and Prime Minister Vadim Brontsev will be acting as the head of state until the new election.

South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity and Alla Dzhoyeva put their signatures to the agreement.

The Opposition’s supporters demonstrating in the center of Tskhinval enthusiastically hailed the news, but warned that they would leave the square on Saturday only after Eduard Kokoity was out. Some have agreed to go, aware that the confrontation with the authorities was past its peak.

As one of Dzhioyeva’s supporters, Alan Pliyev, told Itar-Tass, the agreement also provides for the resignation of the prosecutor-general, his deputy, and chairman of the Supreme Court. Asked if Dzhioyeva would participate in the election rerun on March 25, Pliyev said that she had such a chance, but a final decision had not been made yet.

Earlier, Dzhioyeva said that as the “president elect” she did not recognize the election re-fun in South Ossetia on March 25 and would insist on taking office. She set the date of her inauguration for December 10, but eventually changed her mind in the evening of December 9, when it became clear that her opponents were prepared to make major concessions.

The November 27 presidential election runoff in South Ossetia was annulled by the Supreme Court due to many violations during the election campaign and on the polling day. The supporters of Dzhioyeva, who apparently collected a majority of votes, disagreed with the ruling. On December 6 the Supreme Court of South Ossetia considered the complaint the ex-presidential candidate had filed against the decision to declare the elections void and left the verdict in force. Dzhioyeva’s supporters said it was illegal and warned that the political crisis in South Ossetia might spark destabilization in the whole of the Caucasus.