Idea to rename South Ossetia supported by 80% of voters

The renaming of South Ossetia into the State of Alania was supported by 25,123 people, or 80% of the total number of voters. This was reported by the Central Election Commission (CEC) of South Ossetia following the results of the processing of 100% of the protocols.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 9, South Ossetia simultaneously held the presidential election and the referendum on renaming the republic to Alania.

According to the final data, the renaming of South Ossetia was supported by 80% of citizens: 25,123 people voted for the new name, against 6466 (20%) who did not support the renaming. The amendment comes into force on the day of its publication, the "TASS" reports with reference to Bella Plieva, Chair of the CEC.

"The referendum is considered to be held. Thus, the changes will be introduced to Article 1 of the Constitution of South Ossetia. The names of the Republic of South Ossetia and the State of Alania are equal," stated the Chair of the CEC.

The presidential election was won by Anatoly Bibilov, Speaker of the Parliament of South Ossetia, who gained 57.98% of the votes. According to Bella Plieva, the inauguration of the new president will be held on April 22, 10 days after the publication of the official protocol of the South-Ossetian CEC.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.