Journalists link Gagloev's election success with Bibilov's administrative resources

Anatoly Bibilov made use of his administrative resources to exclude real rivals from the presidential race; however, the votes of their supporters helped Alan Gagloev to win the first round of election in South Ossetia, the journalists interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" have pointed out.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Alan Gagloev, a South-Ossetian presidential candidate, has gained 36.9% of the vote, while incumbent President, Anatoly Bibilov, gained 33.5%; they both go to the second round, the Central Election Commission (CEC) reported on April 11 after counting 95% of the ballot papers.

Alik Pukhaev, a blogger and the author of the "Rajdian" podcast project, has assessed the election outcomes "extremely positively." "The people of Ossetia once again showed their adherence to the principles of democracy and the change of power. Our last few presidents couldn't stay in power for more than one term. This means that they failed to meet Ossetians' aspirations," the blogger told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Mr Pukhaev is sure that in course of the election, the incumbent used his administrative resources. "Despite the use thereof and speculations on the topics of joining Russia, candidates from the power cannot win. The population of Ossetia is very well separating populism from real actions. They saw how administrative resources were used; the incumbent's main rivals were not allowed to campaign. As a result, we got a protest-minded population; and voters preferred Alan Gagloev as a protest candidate," Alik Pukhaev has stated, believing that in the second round, Gagloev has more chances to win.

A similar opinion was expressed by Vadim Tokhsyrov, the editor-in-chief of the outlet named "OsNova". "To all appearances, Gagloev is the favourite. So far, I see no factors due to which the incumbent Bibilov can win in the second round," Vadim told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Mr Tokhsyrov is sure that Bibilov had used his administrative resources. "These resources were definitely used in preparation for the election, when, under pressure from South-Ossetian authorities, Dmitry Sanakoev, an active participant in the political struggle, and Ibragim Gasseev, an ex-head of the Ministry of Defence (MoD), were removed from the race," Vadim has concluded.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 11, 2022 at 05:34 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.