TSKHINVALI, May 31, Georgia (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - The Russian-backed rebel region of South Ossetia voted in a parliamentary election on Sunday that the opposition say will be used by the local separatist leader to strengthen his grip on power.
Russia recognized South Ossetia as an independent state last year after crushing a Georgian attack on the province, which broke away from Tbilisi's rule in a war in the early 1990s.
South Ossetia, a mountainous area about the size of the smallest U.S. state, Rhode Island, was devastated in the war but the opposition say separatist leader Eduard Kokoity has squandered the funds sent by Moscow for reconstruction and crushed any dissent.
"I want these elections to make life better, I want the city to finally start to be rebuilt," said Atsamas Kokoyev, a resident of the local capital Tskhinvali, after voting. "I want no more war. I want life to return to normal."
South Ossetia has been recognized as a sovereign state by only Russia and Nicaragua. The rest of the world still considers it part of Georgia, which lost control over the province in the early 1990s war as the Soviet Union crumbled.
The opposition say Kokoity, a 44-year-old former wrestler, wants to change the constitution so that he can run for a third term in 2011 and that an overwhelming success in the parliamentary election would help him do this.
"He needs a submissive, dull parliament so that he can change the law and stay in power," Albert Jussoyev, the leader of the opposition, told Reuters in an interview last week.
Kokoity, who won elections in 2001 and 2006, says he does not want to run for a third term and supporters credit him with leading South Ossetia to independence after what they say were centuries of outside dominance.
Russia has poured in money and says it will open a military base there. But thousands are still homeless after the war and thousands more unemployed.
The opposition says the population, which they estimate at less than half of the officially registered 70,000, are losing patience with Kokoity, and have called on Russia to intervene.
The local election commission says 52,436 people have been registered to vote for the 34-seat parliament. Of the four parties taking part, three -- Unity, Communists, and the People's party -- support Kokoity.
"If this election was free and fair then the ruling party would not get a majority and our party would get about 35-40 percent of votes, or about 10 or 11 seats in parliament," Vyacheslav Gobozov, leader of the opposition Fatherland-Socialist party, told Reuters.
"If our concerns about the validity of the elections are confirmed then we shall contest the vote and we are already getting information about electoral violations," he said.
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