Voters in Georgia's Moscow-backed rebel region of South Ossetia went to the polls on Sunday in a referendum on independence that has irked Tbilisi and complicated a diplomatic crisis between Russia and Georgia.
The 55,000 South Ossetians were registered to vote -- including about 20,000 refugees in the neighbouring Russian region of North Ossetia -- and had until 8:00 p.m. (1700 GMT) to cast their ballots, the region's elections commission said.
"We are determined, and we will continue to try to achieve our goal by civilised and peaceful means... until the complete independence of South Ossetia," unrecognised South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity told journalists after voting at a Tskhinvali polling station.
Though the polls, like the republic, are not recognised by the international community, South Ossetia's de facto leadership has announced that the referendum is a first step toward achieving international acceptance and eventual union with Russia.
International mediators have warned against the referendum, saying it will only serve to heighten tensions in the region, with the OSCE terming the referendum "counterproductive."
Still, the local elections commission said 64 percent of registered voters had cast ballots by about 2:30 p.m. (1130 GMT), Interfax reported.
"We're trying to prove to the international community that we are united," said Teymuraz Dzhioyev, a 63-year-old pensioner, after casting his vote for independence.
Populated by a mix of ethnic Ossetians and Georgians on Russia's south-western border, South Ossetia has long served as a flashpoint in tense Russian-Georgian relations.
Just outside the capital, in the village of Damlateli, women sang and played accordion music at a hilltop polling site where the South Ossetian and Russian flags flew side-by-side.
"We want to be part of Russia," said Ruslan, an ethnic Georgian who had voted to split from Georgia, adding he regretted that the region's independence ambitions caused tensions between the ethnic Georgians and Ossetians who lived there.
"We should live together like brothers," Ruslan said.
Voters need to hold a South Ossetian identification card in order to vote, which many of the region's ethnic Georgians do not.
The referendum coincides with a leadership vote in the unrecognised republic in which the incumbent Kokoity is expected to win.
About 70,000 people live in South Ossetia, which broke away from Georgia in a brief war in 1992.
"I lost a son in the war. Let the Georgians ask him if we want to join them," said Luiza Kobiseza, 68, a retired doctor, after casting her vote to break with Georgia.
Sunday's referendum comes amid a full-blown diplomatic crisis between Tbilisi and Moscow that erupted last month when Georgia arrested and then expelled four Russian officers it accused of spying.
Russia has cut off all transport links with the country, heavily impacting Georgia's struggling economy, and is seeking to double prices on the natural gas it exports to its resource-poor neighbour.
Georgian officials accuse Russia of using its economic weight and the upcoming referendum to put political pressure on Tbilisi as punishment for the country's pro-Western course, which includes moves toward joining the European Union and the US-led NATO military alliance.
"Mr. Saakashvili came to power with roses," Kokoity said, referring to the so-called Rose Revolution in 2003 that swept Georgia's pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili to power. "The flowers are for you, the West, the thorns are for us."
Russia openly backs the de facto authorities in South Ossetia and another Georgian breakaway region, Abkhazia, and has extended Russian citizenship to the populations of both regions.
Georgia, which accuses Russia of trying to annex the territories, slammed the South Ossetian referendum as illegitimate and has vowed to restore control over the region.