Eduard Kokoiti with bodyguards. Photo © "Liberali"
The seventh congress of the ruling “Yedinstvo” (Unity) Party was held in South Ossetia in the beginning of July. According to the members of the government party, the congress was historic as it marks the second stage in the modern history of South Ossetia. “The recognition of the republic’s independence by the Russian Federation started the process of peaceful revival and democratic development of the country,” the congress said.
President of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoiti showed his loyalty to democratic principles when he said in his speech that he was not going to change the constitution of the republic and to stand in the presidential elections for the third term.
However, he did not say that he was retiring from politics. On the contrary, he mentioned the contours of his future “position”. He called upon the public, political parties and movements to put aside everything and to consolidate for the good of the nation.
It is clear that Kokoiti is inspired by the Putin’s example and sees himself as a leader of the consolidated nation. “We have achieved the major victory which is our statehood but it cost us a lot,” Kokoiti said. “Today we have more im
The congress and the initiatives of Kokoiti provoked different reactions in the public. The opposition thinks that the president’s statement about the inviolability of the constitution is cunning. According to them, the constitution must change in order to guard the republic from authoritarianism.
The thing is that under the constitution of South Ossetia, the candidate for presidency must have lived in the republic for at least 10 continuous years. This drastically reduces the number of contesters and virtually guarantees the presidential job for the members of Eduard Kokoiti’s team.
During the tenure of all three rulers of South Ossetia the opposition was systematically repressed and sometimes even physically destroyed. In the end, there is no charismatic and influential leader left in South Ossetia to challenge the rule of the incumbent government.
This situation has not been the result of Kokoiti’s will only. It has been developed over the past 20 years as a result of the conflict with Georgia.
The desperate conditions of South Ossetian people, the constant fear of war and the inexistence of real assistance from Russia has produced the need for the government and the public to consolidate as much as possible.
In this situation any dissenting opinion was perceived as a threat to the unity of the government and the public in their fight for independence and was equated to treason.
According to Timur Tskhurbati, member of the political board of the opposition party “Ironi”, South Ossetian authorities skillfully used the factor of Georgia and labeled every opposition figure an agent of Georgia.
Visarion Oseev, Ossetian law enforcement officer: “People were not so much afraid of being persecuted for expressing a dissenting opinion but of not being seen as traitors. This finally resulted in a voluntary rejection of democratic principles, which in its turn ended up in a voluntary authoritarianism.”
People acquired the values characteristic to war times. Those who did not participate in military operations or who left the republic in search of a comfortable life, lost authority and the right to pursue a career in the eyes of South Ossetians. The establishment of such a public morale was largely facilitated by the isolation of South Ossetia from outer world after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. People here have retained the Soviet mentality to a large extent.
“Who is he to become our ruler? Where has he been so long?” – these are the questions you will frequently hear in South Ossetia. The majority of South Ossetian citizens has positively greeted the introduction of the law on the “Census of Permanently Living in the Country” despite the fact that many leaders with respected past had to leave the republic at different times. This ideology is a barrier to the development of the republic today.
After the 2008 war the situation has drastically changed. Internal opposition started to evolve in the republic. Before that the opposition existed outside South Ossetia in the form of individuals who had personal animosity with Eduard Kokoiti.
Amiran Diakonov, South Ossetian MP and member of the “Yedinstvo” Party, links the appearance of the internal opposition to the misappropriation of the reconstruction funds allocated after the 2008 war by Kokoiti: “Republic had a chance to take its economy and social field principally to a new level but the interests of the republic were put aside in exchange of bribing Russian officials who have become experts of budget appropriation.”
The republic with a population of 35-40 thousand people was allocated 1 billion USD for reconstruction works by Russia. However, 2 years after the war only 60 houses of 400 burnt during the war have been rebuilt. Tskhinvali still does not have uninterrupted water and electricity supply, whereas it has a well built railway station although there is no railway in the republic. According to an anonymous official of fiscal authority of South Ossetia who spoke to us, of each Ruble allocated by Russia less than 30 Kopeiks were spent purposefully, the rest has been stolen.
Timur Tskhurbati links the growth of protest mood in the public to the August 2008 war although he points out other reasons as well: “Before the war started the president did not declare the state of war. He let the people go home and many did not manage to take arms. On the night from August 7 to 8 the defense of Tskhinvali was not organized. We thought that it was Mikheil Saakashvili’s trick who had spoken about the non-use of force in the conflict zone the previous day. But one month after the war General Atoev, head of South Ossetian “KGB”, said at a press conference that 4 hours before the intrusion of Georgian troops he knew about the upcoming military operations.”
This was the first case when the head of the republic was accused of failing to provide the defense of Tskhinvali. In a 20-year history of South Ossetia this was the first time that the purity of the government was breached.
In any case, the danger of war has diminished since 2008 and the need for the public and the government to consolidate has disappeared. The time for asking the government new questions has come. People became interested in the problems of corruption, flawed system of laws and civil rights, independence of court system and many other issues.
Staging protest actions and demonstrations in front of the government house, increased activeness of civil society and questions about values and not material things towards government is a novelty in South Ossetia. Today people are not only expressing anti-government opinions but even writing about them.
On the other hand, the ombudsman Visarion Oseev thinks that the government does not want to lose the convenient position it had because of the Georgian threat. Today, when everything has changed a lot since 2008, Kokoiti will not be able to unite the public against the Georgian threat. The consolidation of this government with the public is disastrous for South Ossetia. People should acknowledge that now it is a different time – South Ossetia must develop a new political tradition and this will be a long and painful period.
The terminology used in the article belongs to the author only and not to “The Liberal”
The article has been prepared with the support of Heinrich Boell Foundation. The views and opinions expressed in the publication do not necessarily reflect those of Heinrich Boell Foundation.