Tbilisi says elections in Abkhazia will have no legitimacy

Georgia’s Russian-occupied region of Abkhazia is preparing to hold so-called parliamentary elections tomorrow – an event that Tbilisi and the international community deem unconstitutional and illegitimate.

There are 138 candidates running for 35 seats in the People’s Assembly – the de-facto legislative body of the breakaway region.

Only those who received Abkhazian passports after 2014 will be able to vote in tomorrow’s so-called elections.

In Gali, the municipality where the Administrative Boundary Line between Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia lies, only 285 people will be eligible to vote while there are up to 50,000 residents in the municipality. The rest of the population will have no say in the so-called elections as they have only Georgian passports or their Abkhazian passports were issued earlier than 2014.

Georgian Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze said today that no matter how tomorrow’s "elections” end, these "elections” as well as any other actions taken by the de-facto leadership will have no legitimacy. 

"We call on the international community to assess these illegitimate election. We do have the support of international organisations and our partners”, Janelidze said.

"I believe that the time will come when our territorial integrity will be restored and we will be able to hold legitimate elections all across Georgia”.