Kokoity's electoral office announces denial of protest rallies

Local journalists believe that Eduard Kokoity will not be able to cancel at court the decision of the Central Election Commission (CEC) to reject his registration as a presidential candidate.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Central Election Commission rejected registration of Eduard Kokoity as a candidate for presidency in South Ossetia claiming that he had not passed the residency requirement, which demands permanent residence in the territory of the republic for the past five years. On March 9, the initiative group of Eduard Kokoity appealed to the Supreme Court (SC) with a complaint about the above decision.

"Even during his ten-year-long presidency, Kokoity had hardly stayed in the republic for more than two years, let alone the recent years. I think that the court will not change the CEC's decision and will not announce it as illegal; and this is not surprising," believes Timur Tskhovrebov, the editor of the South-Ossetian newspaper "XXI seculare" (21^st Century).

Along with that, Eduard Kokoity's electoral office has denied the idea of holding protests by supporters of the former president, regardless of the decision of the court.

Supporters of Eduard Kokoity are not going to organize any rallies; all their actions during the election campaign "will be held within the framework of the law and the constitution," an employee of the Kokoity’s electoral office told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on March 10.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.