Breakaway South Ossetia’s central election commission said that repeat presidential election on Sunday was valid as over 54% of voters cast their ballots two hours before the closure of polling stations.
Four candidates are running in the repeat elections: the breakaway region’s long-time envoy to Moscow Dmitry Medoev; ex-chief of security service Leonid Tibilov; South Ossetian leader’s special envoy for human rights issues David Sanakoev and leader of the communist party Stanislav Kochiev.
Medoev and Tibilov are regarded to be frontrunners in the race and repeat polls may go into a runoff if neither of the candidates garners more than 50% of votes in the first round.
Supporters of Tibilov have already voiced allegations about violations, accusing “one of the candidates”, apparently referring to Medoev, of using administrative resources and of attempts to bribe voters.
First early results of the elections from the breakaway region’s central election commission are expected on Monday.