The delegation of the South Ossetian Parliament is participating as international observers in the repeat vote on the early presidential elections in Abkhazia.
As reported by the press service of the legislative body of the Republic of South Ossetia, the deputies met in Sukhum with Speaker of the Parliament of the republic Lasha Ashuba.
The South Ossetian delegation has included Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Policy and Inter-parliamentary relations Zaza Driaev, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Construction, Transport, Communications and Natural Resources Ivan Slanov and Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Legislation, Legality and Local self-government Alan Gagloev.
Lasha Ashuba welcomed the guests, having noted that the deputy corps of Abkhazia is glad to see the delegation from South Ossetia again.
"We are very happy to welcome you to the Republic of Abkhazia. Two weeks have passed, and we are meeting again.
I would like to express my gratitude to the leadership of the Republic, Chairman of the Parliament Alan Margiev for finding the opportunity to send a delegation of South Ossetia as observers to the elections of the President of Abkhazia.
We greatly appreciate that the people and leadership of South Ossetia empathize with our republic, closely monitoring the processes taking place in our country.
We have one destiny, the same vision of life and development prospects of our republics. You monitored the voting in the first round of elections, for which we are grateful to you," the Speaker said.
Speaker of Parliament of the Republic of Abkhazia has expressed hope that the elections will be held calmly, in strict accordance with the law.
"We hope that everything will be fine in the second round, the elections will be held in accordance with the law and we will have the opportunity tomorrow evening or the day after tomorrow morning to meet and celebrate the successful holding of the Presidential elections in Abkhazia," he said.
In turn, Zaza Driaev thanked the Abkhaz party for the invitation to come with a monitoring mission to the second round of the presidential elections in Abkhazia.
"Each meeting with you is special for us, because we really have one history. We came with pleasure to take part in the elections of President of the Republic of Abkhazia as international observers. We are doing everything that international observers should do.
In the first round of elections, we visited many polling stations. We did not observe any violations that could affect the voting results. We hope that the second round of elections will be just as calm," he said.
The meeting participants have noted that special warm relations, constructive interaction and cooperation have developed between the deputies of the parliaments of the republics, which is a continuation of the traditions, laid down by previous generations of parliamentarians.
The observers from South Ossetia wished all the Abkhaz people success in all their endeavors for the sake of the prosperity of Abkhazia.
A meeting of the parliamentary delegation of South Ossetia with Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic Dmitry Marshania also took place.
The second round of presidential elections is taking place in Abkhazia on Saturday.
The winner of the first round, Badra Gunba (46.38%), and Adgur Ardzinba (36.92%) are running for the post of head of state.
To win, a candidate must receive the largest number of votes than his opponent and the "against all" column combined. If no candidate is elected, the Central Electoral Commission calls a repeat election.
There are 152 polling stations open in the country, and two more are operating abroad - in Moscow and Cherkessk.
