TSKHINVALI, Georgia, March 25 (UPI) -- More than 50 percent of voters turned up Sunday to cast ballots for the South Ossetia presidential contest, making the election valid, officials said.
"The turnout has reached 50.1 percent. The elections are valid," said Irina Gassiyeva, a secretary of the South Ossetian Election Commission.
Citizens of South Ossetia, a Georgian breakaway republic, are voting for a new president after the November election was ruled invalid because of alleged violations, RIA Novosti said. Education Minister Alla Dzhioyeva, the apparent winner of the election, was barred from running in the March election.
Dmitry Medoyev, the South Ossetian ambassador to Russia; David Sanakoyev, the presidential human rights ombudsman; Leonid Tibilov, the former chair of the State Security Committee; and Communist leader Stanislav Kochiyev are on the current ballot -- the winner must have more than 50 percent of the votes, RIA Novosti said.
Russia and Georgia went to war briefly in 2008 over South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway republic. NATO said it doesn't recognize the political ambitions of either of Georgia's breakaway regions.
