Kremlin favorite trails in South Ossetia

The Kremlin-backed presidential contender in the breakaway republic of South Ossetia is trailing in a runoff vote, the electoral commission said. South Ossetia, a republic that broke from Georgia in 1990, had a runoff vote after two of the top contenders failed to secure the majority needed for outright victory. Opposition candidate Alla Dzhioyeva was in the lead with 56.7 percent of the vote though Kremlin-backed candidate and Emergency Minister Anatoly Bibilov claimed a 7-percentage-point lead, Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti reports. Dzhioyeva was quoted as saying "the public has passed it judgment" and it was time for Bibilov to admit defeat. Even in releasing early vote totals, the republic's electoral commission said it wasn't making a final results announcement about the outcome until it checks complaints over alleged violations of election laws. Moscow recognized South Ossetia shortly after a 2008 conflict with Georgia and signed agreements in 2010 to build permanent military installations there. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the Western alliance didn't recognize South Ossetia's right to have elections for president after the first round of voting in early November. NATO sided with Georgia when Abkhazia, another breakaway republic, had elections earlier this year.