Lyudvig Chibirov

{{Short description|South Ossetian politician; former President of South Ossetia (born 1938)}}{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Lyudvig Chibirov

| image = File:Lyudvig Chibirov (Vladikavkaz 2015).jpg

| caption = Chibirov in 2015

| nationality =

| office = 1st President of South Ossetia

| term_start = 27 November 1996

| term_end = 18 December 2001

| primeminister = Valeriy Hubulov (acting)
Aleksandr Shavlokhov
Merab Chigoev
Dmitry Sanakoyev

| predecessor = Position established

| successor = Eduard Kokoity

| office1 = Chairman of the Supreme Soviet

| primeminister1 = Feliks Zassiev
Vladislav Gabarayev
Valeriy Hubulov (acting)

| term_start1 = 1994

| term_end1 = 27 November 1996

| predecessor1 = Position established

| successor1 = Position abolished

| office2 = Chairman of the State Nyhas

| primeminister2 = Oleg Teziev
Gerasim Khugayev
Feliks Zassiev

| term_start2 = 17 September 1993

| term_end2 = 1994

| predecessor2 = Torez Kulumbegov

| successor2 = Position abolished

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1932|11|19|df=y}}

| birth_place = Tskhinvali, South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast, Georgian SSR, USSR

| death_date =

| death_place =

| spouse =

| party = Independent

| vicepresident =

| native_name = {{nobold|Цыбырты Людвиг}}
{{nobold|Людвиг Чибиров}}

}}

Lyudvig Alekseyevich Chibirov ({{langx|os|Цыбырты Алексейы фырт Людвиг}} Tseberte Alêksêye fert Lyudvig, {{lang-ka|ლუდვიგ ჩიბიროვი}}, {{langx|ru|Лю́двиг Алексе́евич Чи́биров}}; born 19 November 1932) was the Chairman of the Parliament and later, following inaugural elections the first president of South Ossetia. Born in 1932, Chibirov is a former member of the South Ossetian Parliament. Prior to the elections in 1996, he had been South Ossetia's head of state since 1993. When the post of Chairman of the Parliament was abolished in favor of the presidency, Chibirov became the first occupant of the new office.{{Cite news |date=2018-03-16 |title=Back to the USSR: Putin and the new Cold War |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-back-to-the-ussr-putin-and-the-new-cold-war/ |access-date=2024-08-29 |work=The Globe and Mail |language=en-CA}}

During the 1996 elections, he received 65% of the vote compared with former Prime Minister Vladislav Gabaraev, who advocates South Ossetia's secession from the Republic of Georgia and its unification with North Ossetia in Russia, won about 20%. Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze blasted the elections calling them "unlawful."

In the next elections in 2001, the 69-year-old Chibirov received less than 20% of the votes, while Stanislav Kochiev came in second with 25%, and the 38-year-old Eduard Kokoity (Kokoyev) won with more than 48% of the vote.