Tskhinvali Court Rejects Referendum On Leader’s Third Term
By Civil.Ge
(Civil.Ge) — The Supreme Court in breakaway South Ossetia ruled on June 14, that holding of a referendum allowing incumbent to run for the third presidential term will be unconstitutional.
An initiative group, led by deputy defense minister of the breakaway region, Ibragim Gaseev, was leading a campaign to hold a referendum to ask voters whether to allow or not a person to be the president for three consecutive terms.
Before announcement of the decision, the initiative group behind the referendum demand was rallying outside the supreme court saying that the South Ossetian leader, Eduard Kokoity, should stay in power even after expiration of his second term in office later this year.
Kokoity said on June 13 that he would not run for the third term even in case of a referendum.
Also on June 14 the court in Tskhinvali ruled as constitutional a request by the same initiative group to hold a referendum on whether or not to make Ossetian and Russian both the official languages in the region. The referendum on the issue is now expected within next two or three months.
