Tbilisi says elections in Abkhazia will have no legitimacy
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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”.
The individual accused of murdering Giga Otkhozoria last year near the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) separating Georgia and its breakaway region of Abkhazia has been given two additional years of detention, which now makes for 14-years of imprisonment in total.
The Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) Chairmanship expressed concern over the closure of two crossing-points between Georgia and occupied Abkhazia today.
The United States is concerned over the closure of crossing points along the occupation line with Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia, the US Department of State said in a statement.
De-facto Abkhazian officials have closed two crossing-points along the occupation line separating Georgia’s breakaway, Russian-backed Abkhazia region from the rest of the country.
So-called parliamentary elections are being held in the occupied Abkhazia region of Georgia today.
The Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan has issued a statement condemning the so-called parliamentary elections that took place on Sunday in Georgia’s Russian-occupied region of Abkhazia.
"NATO does not recognise the election held on March 12 in the Georgian region of Abkhazia”, NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia James Appathurai said in a statement on the so-called elections in Abkhazia today.
The EU, Poland and Estonia do not recognise the so-called 'parliamentary elections' held on March 12 by Russia-backed de-facto leadership controlling Georgia's Abkhazia region.
Romania and Finland do not recognise the so-called 'parliamentary elections' held on March 12 by Russia-backed de-facto leadership controlling Georgia's Abkhazia region.