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Civil unrest in the small region of Abkhazia in the Southern Caucasus continued today as opposition members demanded the resignation of the sitting leadership over a determination that recent elections were fraudulent.
Abkhazia broke away from the former Soviet Republic of Georgia in 2008 after the Russo-Georgian War. Russian troops remain stationed in the territory.
“According to our legislation, sitting head of state fulfills duties until the inauguration of the president elect. That is why even after the court’s decision president remains at the post and maintains functions. Resignation demands are illegal, that being incompatible with the Constitution, the law on President and the law on elections. Overall the situation in the republic is calm, the government is operating as normal,” said rime Minister Valeri Bganba yesterday, reported Russian state news agency TASS.
Protests are centered around the presidential administration’s building, PM said, adding that “elsewhere everything is calm, everything is functioning in the republic,” added TASS.
The de facto Supreme Court in Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia has annulled the results of last year’s “presidential election” and ordered a rerun of the vote. The self-styled judges on January 10 overturned a lower court’s decision to recognize the results of September “presidential elections” won by Raul Khajimba, following an appeal by opposition presidential candidate Alkhas Kvitsinia, reported RFERL.
The meeting between Abkhazia’s authorities and Deputy Secretary of Russia’s Security Council Rashid Nurgaliyev has resulted in a decision on specific steps to normalize the situation and prevent clashes in the country, Secretary of Abkhazia’s Security Council Mukhamed Kilba told TASS on Saturday.
“There was only one issue, that is, an analysis of the current situation, an assessment of this situation and [the need] to take all possible measures to prevent clashes between people. <…> We will now plan specific actions for the units that will implement this decision in order to prevent clashes between people,” he said, adding that consultations would continue throughout the weekend, wrote TASS.
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