TSKHINVAL, April 10. /TASS/. South Ossetian parliamentary speaker Anatoly Bibilov, who according to early election returns, has received 57.98% of the votes in the April 9 presidential election, has told TASS that accession to Russia is his republic’s strategic goal.

"This is a strategic goal after all. In just three years it will be 100 years since the Ossetian people were split. This is very important and we will be doing so in contact with our counterparts in Russia," he said.

Bibilov recalled that becoming part of Russia again had been the South Ossetian people’s long-cherished dream since the 1920s.

"In any case the steps we will be taking will be absolutely coordinated with our Russian counterparts. We will decide the future of South Ossetia only through talks and consultations," he stated

Last Sunday, South Ossetia saw a presidential election. In parallel the people were asked to say if they agreed with the idea of renaming the country to Alania (the current name - the Republic of South Ossetia would be preserved as having equal force).

The elections and referendum in South Ossetia have been recognized as valid, because the turnout was more than 50%. According to early returns, Bibilov collected 57.98% of the votes, Gagloyev, 11.01% and Tibilov, 30%. A tiny 1.32% rejected all candidates. The Central Election Commission said the statistics were preliminary and returns from fifteen polling stations were not available yet.