The Parliament of South Ossetia is the unicameral legislature

Legislature

A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...

 of the partially recognized Republic of South Ossetia. Members are elected using a system of Party-list proportional representation

Party-list proportional representation

Party-list proportional representation systems are a family of voting systems emphasizing proportional representation in elections in which multiple candidates are elected...

. South Ossetia has a multi-party system

Multi-party system

A multi-party system is a system in which multiple political parties have the capacity to gain control of government separately or in coalition, e.g.The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition in the United Kingdom formed in 2010. The effective number of parties in a multi-party system is normally...

, and currently 3 political parties are represented in parliament. The parliament is headed by a speaker

Speaker (politics)

The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...

, who is elected from among the members. The current speaker is Stanislav Kochiev

Stanislav Kochiev

Stanislav Jakovlevich Kochiev |Kurta]], Tskhinvali district, South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union), is a South Ossetian politician, who is a former presidential candidate and currently the chairman of the Parliament of South Ossetia.Kochiev was born in Kurta, and went to...

, chairman of the Communist Party of South Ossetia

Communist Party of South Ossetia

The Communist Party of South Ossetia is a communist political party in South Ossetia, a partially recognized Caucasian republic, considered by most countries to be a part of Georgia. The party was founded in 1993. As of 2004, the party claimed a membership of 1500...

.

The parliament of South Ossetia meets in the capital Tskhinvali

Tskhinvali

Tskhinvali , is the capital of South Ossetia, a disputed region which has been recognised as an independent Republic by Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Nauru, and is regarded by Georgia and the rest of the world as part of the Shida Kartli region within Georgian sovereign territory.It is located...

. The parliament building, built in 1937, was heavily damaged in the 2008 South Ossetia war

2008 South Ossetia war

The 2008 South Ossetia War or Russo-Georgian War was an armed conflict in August 2008 between Georgia on one side, and Russia and separatist governments of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on the other....

.

List of speakers

Until 27 November 1996, the speaker (or "chairman") of the parliament was also Head of State

President of South Ossetia

The President of the Republic of South Ossetia is the de facto head of state of the partially recognized Republic of South Ossetia that is de jure part of Georgia...

.

• Znaur Gassiyev (26 November 1991 – 29 December 1991)
• Torez Kulumbegov
  Torez Kulumbegov
  Torez Georgievich Kulumbegov , was a political leader of South Ossetia, a former Soviet Autonomous Oblast which unilaterally elevated its status to Republic in 1990 and declared its independence from Georgia in 1991. Kulumbegov ruled as chairman of the Presidium of the South Ossetian Supreme...
  
   (29 December 1991 – 23 September 1993)
• Lyudvig Chibirov (23 September 1993 - 27 November 1996)
• Kosta Georgievich Dzugaev (1996 - 1999)
• Stanislav Kochiev
  Stanislav Kochiev
  Stanislav Jakovlevich Kochiev |Kurta]], Tskhinvali district, South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union), is a South Ossetian politician, who is a former presidential candidate and currently the chairman of the Parliament of South Ossetia.Kochiev was born in Kurta, and went to...
  
   (1999 - 2004)
• Znaur Gassiyev (2nd time) (2004 - 2009)
• Stanislav Kochiev
  Stanislav Kochiev
  Stanislav Jakovlevich Kochiev |Kurta]], Tskhinvali district, South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union), is a South Ossetian politician, who is a former presidential candidate and currently the chairman of the Parliament of South Ossetia.Kochiev was born in Kurta, and went to...
  
  (2nd time) (2009 - current)