Anatoly Bibilov, breakaway South Ossetia’s emergency situations minister, disputes early results of the presidential runoff according to which he is losing the race to Alla Jioyeva.

With most of the votes already counted the breakaway region’s Central Election Commission (CEC) said Jioyeva was leading the race with 56.74% (14,828 votes) with Bibilov having 40% (10,462 votes).

“We have absolutely different information about the voting. We will submit all the information we have, as well as those violations which we have observed during the elections, to the court,” Bibilov said on Monday. “We will accept any ruling by the Supreme Court even if [the verdict] is against us.”

Before the noon on Monday the breakaway region’s Supreme Court said that a complaint had been filed from the Unity party, which backs Bibilov, about the alleged electoral violations. The court chairman, Atsamaz Bichenov, said that the allegations involve bribing and pressuring voters from Jioyeva’s campaign team. He called on the Central Election Commission not to announce any results of the runoff pending the court hearing, which was scheduled to start by the noon on Monday. The hearing, however, was postponed for Tuesday after the Unity party requested more time to provide additional information to the court in connection to its complaints.

The breakaway region’s CEC chairperson, Bela Plieva, said that no complaint had been filed to the electoral commission about alleged violations and she had learnt about the complaint filed to the Supreme Court from the media sources.