Zita Grigorievna Besayeva is a South Ossetian politician who has been a member of the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

South Ossetia South Ossetia, ka, სამხრეთი ოსეთი, ( , ), officially the Republic of South Ossetia – the State of Alania, is a partially recognised landlocked state in the South Caucasus. It has an officially stated populat ...

since 2014. Following the election of

Alan Gagloev Alan Eduardovich Gagloev ( os, Гаглойты Эдуарды фырт Алан, Gaglojty Edwardy fyrt Alan; russian: Алан Эдуардович Гаглоев; born 6 February 1981), also transliterated as Gagloyev, is a South Ossetian poli ...

President of South Ossetia The president of the Republic of South Ossetia ( os, Хуссар Ирыстоны президент, russian: Президент Южной Осетии) is the ''de facto'' head of state of the partially recognized Republic of South Ossetia ...

, she has served as the chairwoman of the ruling

Nykhaz Nykhaz ( os, Ныхас, Nykhas, lit=Meeting, Speech) is a political party in South Ossetia founded in 2013 by supporters of Independent president Leonid Tibilov. History The party was founded by Alan Alborov, former mayor of Tskhinvali. By t ...

party since February 2023.

Biography

Early life

Zita Besayeva was born on June 17, 1976, in

Tskhinval Tskhinvali ( ka, ცხინვალი ) or Tskhinval ( os, Цхинвал, Чъреба, Tskhinval, Chreba, ; rus, Цхинва́л(и), r=Tskhinvál(i), ) is the capital of the disputed ''de facto'' independent Republic of South Ossetia, int ...

then in the

South Ossetian AO The South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast (russian: Юго-Осетинская автономная область, ka, სამხრეთ ოსეთის ავტონომიური ოლქი, os, Хуссар Ирыстоны ав� ...

which was part of the

Georgian SSR The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц� ...

, a member republic of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. She graduated from the

South Ossetian State University The South Ossetian State University, also known as Alexander Tibilov State University (in Ossetian: Хуссар Ирыстоны паддзахадон университет, in Georgian: სამხრეთ ოსეთის პედაგ ...

as part of their class of 1998 with a degree in history. She would also continue to study at the State University, earning a degree in law in 2002.

Political career

Starting in 2001 she would work as a consultant to Committee on Foreign Policy, Defense and Security of the

Parliament of South Ossetia The Parliament of South Ossetia is the unicameral legislature of the partially recognized Republic of South Ossetia. The 34 members of parliament are elected using a mixed system of Party-list proportional representation (17) and single-member di ...

as well as the Parliament's legal department. In July 2002 she was named the head of the Parliament's legal department and retained her leadership role when the department transformed into "the control and legal department" on July 15, 2009. She was one of the first candidates from

to be elected to parliament in the

2014 South Ossetian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in South Ossetia on 8 June 2014. The result was a victory for the United Ossetia party, which won 20 of the 34 seats in the Parliament. Results References External linksSouth Ossetian electoral commission {{ ...

. In 2016 she lobbied for the creation of a Constitutional Court, to give the judicial branch of the Republic actual power. The Constitutional Court had existed on paper since the 2001 rewriting of the constitution, however, citing financial shortfalls, was never created. The Constitutional Court has been modeled after the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

, and as such the prior pro-Russian administrations had put off creating the institution. While in parliament she would serve as the head of the commission on compliance with regulations and won re-election in the

2019 South Ossetian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in South Ossetia on 9 June 2019. The ruling United Ossetia party lost its majority in parliament. Only three other elected members guaranteed their support if United Ossetia was to form a government, leaving it ...

. During her tenure in parliament, Besayeva has been the only women in the 34 member parliament. At the sixth Nykhaz party congress in February 2023, Besayeva was selected to replace outgoing party chairman

, as the President cannot also be the chairman of a political party.

Personal life

Besayeva is married and has three sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Besayeva, Zita 1976 births Living people Ossetian politicians People from Tskhinvali Nykhaz politicians South Ossetian women in politics South Ossetian politicians Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic people