Position established Lyudvig Chibirov Presidential elections were held in South Ossetia on 10 November 1996.

[1] The result was a victory for the incumbent head of state Lyudvig Chibirov, who received 52% of the vote.

Since prior to the region's breakaway in 1991, the head of state's title had been 'Chairman of the Presidium of the South Ossetian Supreme Council', a role equivalent to Speaker, and there had been three officeholders since the declaration of independence: Torez Kulumbegov from 1990 to his imprisonment in 1991, then Znaur Gassiev who held the role during Torez's imprisonment in 1991–1992, before Torez returned to the position in 1992; he was succeeded in 1993 by Lyudvig Chibirov, who held office until 1996 when the Parliament of South Ossetia issued a series of amendments to the constitution which created a new presidential form of government.

Gerasim Khugayev finished second with 24% while three other candidates collectively received 24% of the vote.

Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze stated that the elections "cannot be considered legitimate", but said that the peace process "should go ahead".