Final results from Sunday's vote indicate that the Unity Party of longtime regional leader, Eduard Kokoity, won 17 of the 34 parliamentary seats up for grabs with over 46 percent of the vote.

South Ossetia's election commission said two other parties won seats. The People's Party, largely uncritical of Kokoity, won 22.5 percent, while the Communists took 22.2 percent. The sidelined opposition did not get enough votes to win seats.

Kokoity, a former wrestling champion, is accused by his critics of muzzling opponents and stealing aid money from Russia as he tries to cement his hold on power.

A total of 88 polling stations had been set up for the region's 50,000 residents, as well as additional sites in Russia for expatriates and refugees from the war.

EU: Vote 'not acceptable'

Georgia has ridiculed the vote, with the country's reintegration minister, Temur Iakobashvili, saying the elections were "nothing but clownery, a farce and a redistribution of a criminal power."

The European Union on Monday dismissed the poll, calling it "illegitimate." A statement, released by the EU presidency in Brussels, said the "EU does not accept the legality of the 'elections', nor its results."

"The holding of such elections is illegitimate and represents a setback in the search for a peaceful and lasting settlement of the situation in Georgia," the statement concluded.

Russia, which outraged the West by recognizing South Ossetia as independent, has been pumping money and arms into the region in the wake of last Augusts' war with Georgia.

South Ossetia has only been recognized internationally by Russia and Nicaragua.

gb/AP/AFP/Reuters

Editor: Chuck Penfold