(Read full article on civil.ge)

The top court in Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia yesterday ruled that conducting “presidential runoffs” on Thursday, April 28, goes against law.

The region’s election administration is now instructed to set a new date for the second round of polls, in which incumbent leader Anatoly Bibilov will face frontrunner Alan Gagloev, opposition Nykhas party leader.

“We could have at least held a session today and set the date, but not knowing the reason why the court cancelled our decision, we cannot set a new date,” the head of election administration, Emilia Gagieva was quoted as saying by RES news agency.

Gagieva said the election commission will find a new date as soon as the court document with the justification for cancelling their decision is received in full.

She also complained that more than one million Russian rubles (USD 13 thousand) were spent to print ballots for April 28. ‘It’s extremely important not to make a mistake with the new date, because new ballots will have to be ordered.”