TSKHINVALI, Georgia -- None of five presidential candidates in a vote in Georgia’s South Ossetia cleared the 50 percent mark in an election to lead the breakaway region that Tbilisi and the West do not recognize.
Emilia Gagiyeva, the de facto chairwoman of the Central Election Commission of the region, said on April 11 that with 95 percent of the vote counted, incumbent de facto President Anatoly Bibilov received 33.5 percent, while his main rival, the leader of the Nykhas party, Alan Gagloyev, got 36.9 percent.
Gagiyeva said the two will compete in a runoff that will be held no later than 15 days after final results of the weekend election are announced.
According to Gagiyeva, almost 75 percent of voters turned out to cast ballots.
The United States, the European Union, and Georgia called the April 10 vote illegitimate and said they would not recognize the results.
Russia recognized South Ossetia and another region, Abkhazia, as independent countries after fighting a brief war against Georgia in 2008. Moscow maintains thousands of troops in both regions.