# 1990 South Ossetian Supreme Soviet election

Supreme Soviet elections were held in the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast on 9 December 1990. The disputed elections took place during a period of extreme ethnic unrest in Georgia during the collapse of the Soviet Union. South Ossetia declared independence from Georgia and held elections in response to regional political parties being barred from the 1990 Georgian Supreme Soviet election. In response, Georgia declared martial law, which culminated in the start of the South Ossetian War.

## Background

During the early stages of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the government of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast, which, established in 1922, did not want to be part of an independent Georgia due to cultural, linguistic, nationalistic and religious differences, but was set to become part of an independent Georgia due to its status as an autonomous oblast of the Georgian SSR. On 10 November 1989 the Supreme Soviet of South Ossetia petitioned the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union to change the area's status from an Autonomous Oblast into an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, which would be independent from the Georgian SSR. This resulted in a lengthy legal battle between Russian officials in Moscow and Georgian officials in Tbilisi known as the War of Laws. Ultimately, no progress on the issue was made.
In August 1990 Georgia outlawed any political party that solely operated in just one specific part of the country, meaning South Ossetian nationalist, autonomist and communist parties could not participate in the Georgian parliamentary election. Following this, on 20 September 1990 the Supreme Soviet of South Ossetia declared the Oblast's independence from Georgia as the "South Ossetian Soviet Democratic Republic", a constituent of the Soviet Union. The following day, the Georgian parliament declared that the declaration of independence was illegal. The newly "independent" South Ossetia scheduled elections to its Supreme Soviet which were held on 9 December 1990.

## Results

The elections took place at the same time as the 1990 Georgian Supreme Soviet election, resulting in conflicting zones of control and election participation. Voter turnout was reported to be 72%, which exceeded the Ossetian population of South Ossetia.
The members of the Supreme Soviet were members of the Communist Party of Georgia (CPG), since the CPG only declared its independence from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on 8 December 1990, South Ossetian members of the party never attended its secession meeting, and remained loyal to the party in Moscow. In 1993 the communists would become the Communist Party of South Ossetia. However, more stringent Ossetian Nationalists were elected to the Soviet as independents.

## Aftermath

The Georgian parliament rejected the results of the South Ossetian elections and abolished the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast on 11 December 1990. On 12 December Georgian forces attempted to regain control of the region through military force, resulting in gunfights in Tskhinvali, the start of the South Ossetian War. Russia would initially support Georgia, allowing them to disarm Ossetian militias, and even sending their own troops to help the Georgians take back control of the rebellious province.