South Ossetia holds “unrecognized” parliamentary elections

More than 40,000 voters went to polling stations throughout Georgia’s breakaway region South Ossetia today to have their say in the de-facto 2014 Parliamentary Elections, despite the elections not being recognized by Georgia or the European Union (EU).

Two hundred and four candidates from nine political parties tried their luck to receive one of 34 seats in South Ossetia's so-called Parliament.

Preliminary results showed the majority of votes (44.11%) were received by the Yedinaya Ossetia party (United Ossetia) while second most popular was the socialist party Unity of Nation, which received 16.43 percent of votes.

The Yedinaya Ossetia party are the political group that is calling for a referendum to be held for the breakaway region to join Russia

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty stated voter turnout reached 44 percent by late afternoon. Russian news agencies claimed the so-called Parliamentary Elections were valid since voter turnout exceeded the 50 percent threshold at 6pm Moscow time.

Latest figures state there are about 42,000 people who are eligible to vote in the elections. The outcome of the elections will not be recognized by Georgia, the EU and others.

High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy for the European Union Catherine Ashton said the EU did not recognize the legal and constitutional frameworks in which the so-called parliamentary elections were being held in South Ossetia.

"The European Union supports the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia, as recognized by international law. About the elections in the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia on 8 June, we recall that the European Union does not recognize the constitutional and legal framework within which these elections have taken place," read Ashton’s statement.

South Ossetia has been a breakaway region of Georgia since 1992-93. It is recognized as an independent state by Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Nauru.

Tuvalu, a Polynesian island nation located between Hawaii and Australia in the Pacific Ocean, recognized Abkhazia’s and South Ossetia’s so-called sovereignty in 2011 but revoked this decision on March 31, 2014, after its official delegation visited the Georgian capital city Tbilisi.