Supporters of former presidential candidate Alla Dzhioyeva in Georgia’s breakaway South Ossetia said they would collect signatures to seek parliament’s resignation, a former defense minister said on Friday.
Preliminary results showed that opposition leader Dzhioyeva, also former education minister, won the November 27 runoff in South Ossetia. But the republic’s Supreme Court on Tuesday canceled the elections outcome, citing violations. Dzhioyeva declared herself president and her supporters have been rallying on the central square of the capital Tskhinval ever since.
“We will rally for another two or three days, and then we will collect signatures to recall the parliamentarians and make them resign,” said Dzhioyeva’s loyalist Anatoly Barankevich.
He said that unless any decisions are made, Dzhioyeva’s supporters would gather about 10,000 people from throughout the republic in the next few days and added that security structures would surely provide their support.
On Friday, media reports quoted acting South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity, who has been in power since 2001, as saying that Dzhioyeva should be allowed to run in the repeat polls. But the former presidential candidate said she would not join the race next time.
“I thank Kokoity for his bow of courtesy,” Dzhioyeva said, adding that personally she had not received any proposals and that she was feeling sick.
“The 17,000 people who voted for me will not vote in the elections either,” Dzhioyeva said. The republic has 38,000 eligible voters.
In the first round, Dzhioyeva and Emergencies Minister Anatoly Bibilov scored equal amounts of votes. In the runoff, Dzhioyeva was leading the race, according to preliminary election results.
On Wednesday, Dzhioyeva’s supporters tried to break into the Central Election Commission’s building, and security guards had to open fire.
When Kokoity refused to cancel the Supreme Court’s ruling to annul the runoff results as Dzhioyeva demanded in an ultimatum, she said she was no longer responsible for her supporters’ actions.
Media reports said on Friday that Dzhioyeva has been urging her supporters to boycott the Russian State Duma elections on December 4. Thousands of South Ossetians, including Dzhioyeva, have Russian citizenship after the five-day war in the breakaway republic between Georgia and Russia in 2008. Russia has been supporting the South Ossetians’ separatist sentiments.
“This [boycott] is not my position but such opinions do circulate among my supporters, many of whom have said they would not cast their votes in any elections any more, I am very sorry,” Dzhioyeva said, adding she would personally follow suit.
