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 district A single-member district is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. Single-member districts are also sometimes called single-winner vo ...

s (17). South Ossetia has a multi-party system, and currently 5

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or pol ...

are represented in parliament and has 6 independent MPs elected through single-member districts. The parliament is headed by a speaker, who is elected from among the members. Since 15 September 2022 the speaker of parliament is Alan Alborov, one of the four deputees of the

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 of president

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 ...

, after

Alan Tadtaev Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname *Alan (given name), an English given name **List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' *Al ...

United Ossetia United Ossetia ( os, Иугонд Ир, russian: Единая Осетия) is a political party in South Ossetia founded in 2012. In the 2014 parliamentary election it won 20 out of 34 seats, clearing the majority in the Parliament of South Osse ...

was forced to resign.

History

The parliament of South Ossetia meets in the capital Tskhinvali. The parliament building was built in 1937 as the Soviet of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast. On 10 November 1989, the Soviet of the South Ossetian AO requested the Soviet Union elevate the AO into an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics. This resulted in the " War of Laws", a period of intense legal debates between officials from the South Ossetian AO the Georgian SSR and the USSR which would turn into open warfare between Georgian and Ossetian militias and the Soviet Army near the end of 1990. During the Russo-Georgian war of 2008 the building, and its neighboring administrative complex, was shelled by artillery by the Georgian Army. After initially denying that they targeted the building, Georgian chief of staff,

Zaza Gogava Zaza Gogava ( ka, ზაზა გოგავა; born July 14, 1971) is a Georgian Major General. He served as a Chief of Joint Staff of the Armed Forces of Georgia from November 2006 to November 2008 and the chief of Border Police from Nov ...

, issued a statement that the parliament building, and its nearby offices, were holding various South Ossetian militia's headquarters, and that the artillery hit no civilian targets. Human Rights Watch and the Red Cross both noted the incident as a potential violation of article 8 of the Rome Statute, however, if there were South Ossetian militants in the building, it would not be a war crime. Following the war, Parliament and the area around it, including Tskhinvali's Jewish quarter, were largely demolished and rebuilt as a new model city by Russian officials.

Latest election

Since 2020, three opposition parties,

, the People's Party and Unity of the People entered a coalition. After the

2022 South Ossetian presidential election Presidential elections were held in the disputed territory of South Ossetia on 10 April 2022. As none of the presidential nominees obtained at least 50% of the votes, a runoff was held on 8 May 2022, between the top two candidates, Alan Gagloye ...

saw Nykhaz's

win the Presidency, this opposition coalition becoming the governing minority government. This has resulted in gridlock and a hung parliament due to

's opposition to the government. Following the 2024 election, where Nykhaz won 10 direct seats, and the support of 3 independents, their coalition with the People's Party was preserved, with the Communist Party also announcing their support of the government, bringing the coalition to an outright majority of 21.

List of speakers

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parliament of South Ossetia Politics of South Ossetia Political organisations based in South Ossetia South Ossetia