Political scientists pointed to the lack of competition in the presidential elections of South Ossetia.

The presidential election campaign in South Ossetia cannot be considered competitive, as the acting head of the republic, Marat Kambolov, has no real opponents, noted political scientists. They pointed to the initial inequality of candidates' resources.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", on August 24, surveyed residents of South Ossetia listed the problems they expect the next president to address and mentioned that they have hardly encountered any election campaigning.

Elections without competitiveness are not elections.

In South Ossetia, the election campaign is taking place against a backdrop of a lack of competitiveness, noted political scientist Alla Dzhioeva. "Elections without competitiveness are not elections. Besides Kambolov, all candidates are technical," she told a correspondent of "Caucasian Knot".

Analyst Ruslan Totrov also assessed the current election campaign in South Ossetia skeptically.

"This is not an election campaign, but merely the execution of a directive from the Russian federal center. And, unfortunately, after 35 years since South Ossetia gained de facto independence, we have come to a situation where probably the last institution of genuine democracy – honest, competitive elections for the head of state – will be abolished," he said to a correspondent of "Caucasian Knot".

This is not an election campaign, but the execution of a directive from the Russian federal center.

According to Totrov, the constitution and law were changed specifically for the candidate Marat Kambolov. "In South Ossetia, the election law was changed precisely so that one specific person could participate in the elections, bypassing the so-called residency requirement. This is quite obvious," Totrov pointed out.

According to Totrov, today Russia views South Ossetia, despite all public assurances of support for independence, as a controlled territory in the south bordering Georgia.

"Therefore, it is sad but logical that in the end they decided to send a "governor-general", just without the general's rank," Totrov said.

He believes there are no other interesting and serious candidates.

"People who could enter into competitive struggle with Kambolov, be it Bibilov or David Sanakoev, are not even participating in the elections. Everyone understands that South Ossetia is in a deep electoral depression, and everyone understands that Marat Kambolov will win with results deeply synergistic with those figures shown by United Russia governors in the Russian Federation, for example. Therefore, it is impossible to compare the current campaign with that of 2022. Simply because there is no competition, no opposition, and the expression "the arrangement of political forces" is nothing more than a linguistic construct. From now on, South Ossetia, whether de jure or de facto an independent state formation, has ended in the eyes of the Russian Federation," Totrov stated.

Marat Kambolov is simply declared to win, Totrov continued. "And there are several technical candidates. The worst practices of "United Russia" are being applied, it is unpleasant that it has come to this in South Ossetia. The collapse and death of independent elections in the state of Alania," the analyst concluded.

In turn, another South Ossetian political scientist stated anonymously that initially the opportunities for candidates are different.

There is Marat Kambolov and emptiness.

"Marat Arkadyevich Kambolov is still a heavyweight with federal connections and great opportunities. I am sure that access to debates and appearances on television will be the same for everyone, but that no longer matters. There is too great a difference in initial resources," he told a correspondent of "Caucasian Knot".

According to the political scientist, Kambolov is presented as a specialist who can only help South Ossetia.

"They reason that since the specialist has shown himself well in Russia, he will probably be able to help us? Against this background, even the election campaign for Kambolov is not being conducted as such. The only thing is that his meetings with vice-premiers at the federal level are shown. His team's position is that the best campaigning is to show some result now," the interlocutor said.

Moreover, in his opinion, Alan Gagloev completely discredited the belief in local young people in South Ossetia who can change something.

"And this will also play a role. There is a video where a local resident, a young man, expresses his opinion in Ossetian, which, in my opinion, coincides with the opinion of many. He says that all parties and leaders have discredited themselves. When Alan Gagloev left, instead of activating actions, they minimized their activity. And when Marat Kambolov came, most political forces preferred to join him. One could say they raised their paws up immediately, and many were very disappointed by this. Yes, of course, Marat Kambolov is a very significant person, but you, says the young man, continue your game," the political scientist said.

He pointed to the lack of competition in the elections.

"Previously, in all elections, we had a main contender, there was some opposition, but now there is no opposition, it has nothing to lean on because there are no bright people. There are no political forces that pursued any more or less meaningful interests. There is Marat Kambolov and emptiness. This is the current situation," the political scientist summarized.

Let us remind you that on June 23, Alan Gagloev resigned as president of South Ossetia after being appointed an advisor to Vladimir Putin, and the temporary execution of the duties of the head of the republic passed to the Prime Minister Marat Kambolov. The Parliament of South Ossetia on July 1 scheduled voting for September 18.

In July, Vladimir Putin publicly expressed support for Kambolov in the upcoming elections. On August 23, the Central Election Commission of South Ossetia registered four candidates: Marat Kambolov, Zurab Kokoev, Murat Valiev, and Kazbek Kodoev.