Azerbaijan refused to recognize the elections in South Ossetia.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan announced its non-recognition of the results of the presidential elections in South Ossetia, supporting the territorial integrity of Georgia.
As reported by "Caucasian Knot", the Central Election Commission of South Ossetia has summarized the final results of the presidential elections in the republic. 84.95% of voters cast their votes for Marat Kambolov, who has been recognized as the elected president.
Georgia considers Abkhazia and South Ossetia to be territories occupied by Russia after Russia intervened in the armed conflict between Georgia and South Ossetia on August 8, 2008, and then recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, according to a report by the "Caucasian Knot" on the Five-Day War of 2008. Venezuela recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in September 2009.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Azerbaijan stated its non-recognition of the results of the presidential elections in South Ossetia.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan once again confirms its support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia and does not recognize the so-called 'presidential elections' held in the Tskhinvali region of Georgia, as well as their results," the statement from the ministry said, the translation of which was done by a correspondent of "Caucasian Knot".
"Caucasian Knot" also reported that earlier analysts pointed out that the pre-election campaign in South Ossetia was not competitive, and Marat Kambolov had no real opponents. Thus, political scientist Alla Dzhioeva called the other candidates technical. Analyst Ruslan Totrov linked the nature of the campaign to the decision of the Russian federal center.
During the campaign, Kambolov made a series of promises to address social and infrastructure issues. On September 6, social media users, discussing his report on the work of the public support headquarters, called on Kambolov not to forget his election promises and to ensure the resolution of the stated problems.
On September 15, Kambolov presented his election program, the main goal of which he named as creating conditions for a decent life, work, and self-realization of residents without the need to leave the republic, and on September 17 promised to increase the salaries of employees of the state enterprise "Energoresurs" within a year.
Let us recall 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. Four candidates for the presidency of South Ossetia have been registered – Marat Kambolov, Zurab Kokoev, Murat Valiev, and Kazbek Kodoev. Materials on the election campaign have been collected by "Caucasian Knot" on the page "Elections of Kambolov in South Ossetia".