Abstract. The article examines the course of the 2022 presidential election campaign in the Republic of South Ossetia. The course of the campaign itself is described, portraits of the main candidates for the presidency are given. Separately, the reasons for the loss of the current president Anatoly Bibilov and the victory of Alan Gagloev are analyzed. The first steps of Gagloev at the presidential post are also considered. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the issue of the possibility of holding a referendum on the accession of South Ossetia to the Russian Federation. This issue is considered not only through the prism of the domestic policy of South Ossetia, but also from the standpoint of Russian policy in the Caucasus.