GEORGIA: SOUTH OSSETIAN REGIME CLAIMS 50,000 VOTE

C O N F I D E N T I A L TBILISI 001005

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/01/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV KBDS RU GG
SUBJECT: GEORGIA: SOUTH OSSETIAN REGIME CLAIMS 50,000 VOTE
IN "PARLIAMENTARY" ELECTIONS

REF: A. A. TBILISI 982

B. B. MOSCOW 1403

Classified By: AMBASSADOR JOHN F. TEFFT FOR REASONS 1.4 (b) AND (d).


1. (C) Summary and Comment. Elections for the de facto South
Ossetia parliament were held in South Ossetia on May 31
without any official internationally-recognized monitoring
organizations taking part. De facto officials claimed to the
Russian press that about 50,000 people voted, with 46 percent
casting their ballots for Eduard Kokoity's Unity Party. The
high voter turnout -- far more than the estimated total
number of current residents -- suggests a fraudulent
election. The Government of Georgia decried the results as
illegitimate, as did the European Union. End Summary and
Comment.

UNITY PARTY WINS


2. (SBU) On May 31, voters in South Ossetia cast ballots for
34 parliamentary seats, which are allocated proportionally.
According to the South Ossetia de facto election commission,
current de facto "President" Eduard Kokoitys Unity Party won
just over 46 percent of the vote, while the Communist Party
and People's Party both won approximately 23 percent of the
vote. The Fatherland Party did not exceed the seven percent
threshold to enter parliament. The new "parliament" will
therefore consist of 17 parliamentarians from Unity, nine
from the People's Party and eight from the Communist Party.
South Ossetian officials reported voter turnout was as high
as 70 to 80 percent, and estimated that 50,000 people had
voted. As noted in ref A, these numbers are highly inflated,
as the total number of legitimate voters could be no higher
than 30,000 (the number of eligible voters pre-August 2008),
and were likely half that. Furthermore, despite the Unity
Party enjoying only a 17 percent popularity rating, it still
managed to secure an overwhelming victory. Minister of
Reintegration Temuri Yakobashvili was quoted in the Georgian
press as calling the results illegitimate, and the European
Union issued a statement, saying that "the holding of such
elections is illegitimate and represents a setback in the
search for a peaceful and lasting settlement of the situation
in Georgia."

NO GEORGIAN JOURNALISTS ALLOWED


3. (C) Russian press reporting indicated that 110 foreign
observers were present, and Russian monitors reported no
serious irregularities. Neither the OSCE nor the EU
monitored the process and little information on the reported
foreign observers is available. Despite an open invitation
to foreign journalists by de facto officials to witness the
election, at least one Georgian reporter, Mari Otanashvili of
Rezonansi newspaper, was briefly detained in Akhalgori and
then evicted by South Ossetian militia. Otanashvili, who
arrived in Akhalgori to report on the elections, was allowed
to cross Georgian and South Ossetian checkpoints because she
is registered in Akhalgori. After interviewing some elderly
Georgians remaining in South Ossetia who said they were
thinking of voting to avoid trouble with the authorities, she
entered the polling station at Secondary School 1. When the
South Ossetians at the polling station learned she was
Georgian, the local police were called in, and they
transported her to the police station and said "Don't you
know that we are not allowing Georgian journalists to work
here?" After conducting a thorough personal search, the
South Ossetian police officers escorted her back to the
Russian checkpoint, and a Russian security official then
QRussian checkpoint, and a Russian security official then
escorted her to the Georgian checkpoint. According to
Otanashvili, South Ossetian police officers said she can
return to Akhalgori, but without her tape recorder and camera.
TEFFT