Kambolov's opponents in the presidential elections of South Ossetia are technical candidates.

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The election campaign for the presidential elections in South Ossetia is being conducted only by the acting head of the republic, Marat Kambolov, but this is his daily job. Other candidates are more like technical candidates who will not even be able to gather protest votes.

As reported by "registered four candidates: Marat Kambolov, Zurab Kokoev, Murat Valiev, and Kazbek Kodoev. The presidential candidates of South Ossetia were supposed to discuss social policy during the debates on August 28, but the quality of the broadcast was such that voters could not understand what was being discussed. During the debates, all candidates emphasized the need to fight corruption. Previously, Khokh Chochiev, who was not allowed to participate in the elections, stated that all candidates, except for Kambolov, are technical, and the elections themselves are just an imitation of competition.

The election campaign for the presidential elections in South Ossetia was commented on August 30 by the correspondent of "Caucasian Knot" blogger Soslan Jussov, civil activist Timur Tskhurbati, and blogger Alik Pukhati.

According to Soslan Jussov, currently only one candidate is conducting the election campaign, and that is Kambolov. "But since he is the acting president, his election campaign is his daily job. We see that events are being held, some people are arriving, agreements are being made with regions of Russia and federal agencies, assistance is being provided... Other candidates are not visible or heard. They have not made any appearance at all, even though there are three weeks until the elections. Everything is pointing to the fact that these will be the least competitive elections in the history of South Ossetia," he concluded.

I agree with the assessment that they are technical candidates

Timur Tskhurbati also believes that none of Kambolov's opponents will be able to or plan to win the elections. "I know this because two of these candidates told me that they were told to run. They did not hide that it was not their initiative. Therefore, I agree with the assessment that they are technical candidates. And they were wrong not to allow Chochiev to participate. I don't think he would have won, but it shouldn't have been done," he said.

In his opinion, there is no need to fear the factor of protest voting either, as none of Kambolov's opponents will be able to gather protest votes. "These people have no merits for anyone to want to vote for them. So those who have protest sentiments will vote against everyone. These candidates are also well aware of this. Under 'normal' conditions, they wouldn't even think of running for office," Tskhurbati believes.

Alik Pukhati reminded that Alan Gagloev was also considered a technical candidate, but he outperformed Anatoly Bibilov. Nevertheless, the outcome of the elections can be considered predetermined, as the resources of Kambolov on one side and his opponents on the other are too unequal. "Kambolov is a federal heavyweight with a huge network among Russian elites, and they will not be able to oppose this; they do not have such a background. I see this as a problem. The activity is very high. Kambolov's meetings at the highest level in Russia work better than any posters or campaigning. This form of campaigning works better because people are a bit tired of direct campaigning. It didn't help Bibilov at the time," the blogger believes.

None of the four registered candidates have yet started direct election campaigning; there are no posters or banners on the streets, nor are there traditional meetings with the population being held.

It is now important to bring society out of a state of apathy, indifference, and disbelief

Commenting on the candidates' words about the need to fight corruption, Jussov stated that he believes that the interconnected problems of corruption, unemployment, and population outflow cannot be solved in a year or two. "Or maybe it is not even necessary. I mean, if society sees that all these problems are being addressed, that they are being worked on systematically and fought against, if a specific goal is set to reduce unemployment, to reduce population outflow, then this alone will give an impulse and hope to the population. And people will also get involved in this. It is now important to bring society out of a state of apathy, indifference, and disbelief. People leave because they do not see prospects. But if this prospect is outlined, which, in my opinion, can be done within a year, then people themselves will start to fight these problems. Not only will the authorities do something, but together society and the authorities will begin to change life for the better," Jussov says.

Another pressing issue - crossing the border, on the contrary, can be resolved in a shorter time than unemployment or population outflow, Jussov believes. "Changes have occurred at the post in Zaramag, but whether this will be enough will be shown by time. I believe that no, this will not be enough. Although the waiting time has decreased, we know what the factor of instability is, and as long as this post is there, there will always be a risk that there will be problems. And constantly solving these problems in a 'manual' mode is costly. Of course, if this post did not exist at all, if we could solve this issue, that alone would give a big impulse for the development of the republic," the blogger added.

Tskhurbati called the problem of crossing the border "technical" and easily solvable if there is a desire and will. "We are less than half the capacity of the Luzhniki stadium in the republic. And considering that there are people who rarely travel, this is very easy. After all, you can even set up face control, like in large supermarkets. I think more people pass through a large supermarket in a day than cross the border between South Ossetia and Russia. No one is working on this problem at all. The border is a technical issue, it is easily solved. Other problems are also solvable; they just need more work," the activist noted.

Pukhati also believes that problems at the border hinder the influx of new people into South Ossetia. "I know, for example, that if this border did not exist, many people in North Ossetia would like to have real estate in South Ossetia and come more often. In my opinion, all these problems can be solved. Even creating small prospects and removing the customs post can turn the situation in South Ossetia upside down, in a good sense. And the situation is very bad now, and even small positive changes will seem to us a colossal result," Pukhati noted.

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