Georgia's presidential election campaign generally passed over government-controlled areas of South Ossetia, with posters and other political paraphernalia largely missing from towns. Still, as residents made their way through several inches of fresh snow to go to polling stations, there was little doubt about who was the favored candidate of a wide majority in the region - Mikheil Saakashvili.

Dato Zadzania - a resident of Tamarasheni, a village just a few kilometers from Tskhinvali, the capital of the separatist-controlled portion of South Ossetia -- estimated that 90 percent of voters in the region's pro-Georgian areas will endorse Saakashvili's re-election. Ia Barateli, a journalist for Alania TV, suggested that the local population tended to support the status quo. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

"Our people know who is responsible for stabilizing the region and want to continue to follow this course," stated Dimitri Sanakoev, who heads the provisional government in the portion of South Ossetia loyal to Tbilisi. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Sanakoev cast his ballot in the village of Khechvi.

With over 10,500 eligible voters in the conflict zone, the number of votes here could be a significant addition to Saakashvili's tally, if the local predictions are accurate. Turnout was heavy. By 1:30 pm, one official at Precinct # 8 estimated that 60 percent of the voter list had turned out, a number he put at 300-350.

Sanakoev said he was not surprised by the level of voter participation. "I wasn't expecting to see a high turnout, I knew there would be. This is directly connected to our successful peace process," Sanakoev said.

However, as to Saakashvili's promise to resolve the South Ossetian conflict within months, the alternative leader sought to restrain optimism. "It is realistic but I have reservations as to the period," he says.

Deputy Minister of Conflict Resolution, Ruslan Abashidze was on hand in the alternative government administrative center in Kurta, assisting foreign observers who had arrived to monitor the balloting.

"You can say that Misha's [Saakashvili's] popularity here has to do with the fact he has been active here in the past few years, while opposition candidates first arrived only after elections were announced," Abashidze said.

By midday, reports were coming in that international observers and opposition precinct commission members were being hampered by Russian peacekeeping forces. At Sanakoev's headquarters, observers from Estonia and Ukraine said they had been prevented from entering Georgian villages through the Tamarasheni checkpoint.

"The Russian peacekeepers don't like foreigners," Abashidze asserted. "This follows a pattern. In early autumn, they prevented OSCE ambassadors from entering the same area."

Sanakoev claims Ossetian separatist leaders have also set up extra checkpoints to separate Ossetian and Georgian villages to keep people from voting.

Election violations in the area appeared to be minimal. Just minutes before Sanakoev had his finger marked in Precinct #8, one woman was seen assisting an older companion into a voting booth as an election official looked on. He later confirmed only one person should be allowed in a voting booth at a time.