MOSCOW — Thousands of protesters took to the streets on Wednesday in South Ossetia, a rebel Georgian enclave dependent on Russian financial aid, where their presidential candidate’s invalidated victory over a Kremlin-backed rival in the election last weekend has provoked an escalating political standoff.
Protesters, camped in front of South Ossetia’s government headquarters, vowed to remain until the authorities acknowledged the victory of their candidate, Alla Dzhioeva, a former education minister and political dark horse.
Shortly after Sunday’s vote, South Ossetia’s Supreme Court declared the election invalid, citing what it called violations by Dzhioeva’s campaign, though international observers, including those from Russia, initially had ruled the vote free and fair.
