TBILISI, DFWatch – Only four candidates have been approved to participate in the March 25 election to fill the post as president of the de facto republic of South Ossetia, a Georgian breakaway region currently occupied by Russia.

Today the Central Election Commission of the region finished the approval process and ended up cutting down a list of 22 applicants to only four who made it to the final list.

They are Stanislav Kochiyev, leader of the Communist Party; Commissioner for Human Rights under President of South Ossetia, David Sanakoyev; South Ossetia’s ambassador to Russia, Dmitry Medoyev; and ex-Chairman of the KGB of South Ossetia, Leonid Tibilov.

All four are seen as suitable for Russia, especially Dmitry Medoyev, who has worked in Russia for years.

Two more candidates were refused to register for the candidacy: Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Yuri Dzitstsoyty and former deputy Sergei Zasseev, who both are planning to protest to the CEC.

Fifteen candidates were flat out rejected by the CEC due to inconsistencies in their documents.

The repeat election March 25 is a second attempt at selecting a leader. Elections were last held in November, 2011, but were canceled.

Kremlin favorite Anatoly Bibilov lost against opposition leader Alla Dzhioyeva, but before the final results were announced, the Supreme Court declated it invalid.

Dzhioyeva and her supporters started demonstrations in front of the government building, leading to a compromise agreement which saw the long standing leader Eduard Kokoity stepping down earlier, and the instatement of acting president Vadim Brovtsev, who is the current leader.

But in mid January, Dzhioyeva broke with the agreement and announced she would claim election victory, because Brovtsev had not met some of the terms agreed to.

February 9, the day before her inauguration, her headquarters were attacked and several people arrested. Dzhioyeva herself says she was beaten. She was taken to hospital, authorities saying she had suffered a heart attack.

Later she said she will boycott the March 25 election and continue claiming victory and fighting for the people who are supporting her.