2012 Abkhazian parliamentary election
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The elections for the 5th convocation of the
People's Assembly of Abkhazia The People's Assembly — Parliament of the Republic of Abkhazia ( ab, Аҧсны Жәлар Реизара – Апарламент, ka, აფხაზეთის რესპუბლიკის სახალხო კრება, russi ...
were held in two rounds on 10 and 24 March 2012.


Background

This was the first parliamentary election since the August 2008 war and the subsequent diplomatic recognition of Abkhazia by
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
,
Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...
, Nauru,
Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
,
Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...
and
Tuvalu Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-nor ...
. On 22 February, President
Alexander Ankvab Aleksandr Zolotinskovich Ankvab ( ; ab, Алықьсандр Золотинска-иԥа Анқәаб, ka, ალექსანდრე ზოლოტინსკის ძე ანქვაბი, russian: Алекса́ндр Золот ...
survived an assassination attempt as his motorcade came under attack on the road from
Gudauta Gudauta ( ka, გუდაუთა, ; ab, Гәдоуҭа, ''Gwdowtha''; russian: Гудаута, ''Gudauta'') is a town in Abkhazia, Georgia, and a centre of the eponymous district. It is situated on the Black Sea, 37 km northwest of Sukhu ...
to
Sukhumi Sukhumi (russian: Суху́м(и), ) or Sokhumi ( ka, სოხუმი, ), also known by its Abkhaz name Aqwa ( ab, Аҟәа, ''Aqwa''), is a city in a wide bay on the Black Sea's eastern coast. It is both the capital and largest city of ...
. Though he survived, two bodyguards were killed. Ankvab blamed "mafia, criminal groups" and the "political circles" around them for the attack. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that it was an attempt to destabilise the country's political situation prior to the election.


Parties

Candidates could be nominated by initiative groups and by officially registered political parties (in at most a third of all constituencies, that is 11).


Candidates

In total, 156 candidates were nominated. 35 candidates were nominated by a political party and 126 by an initiative group (with some overlap). Of the candidates nominated by a political party, 11 were nominated by
United Abkhazia United Abkhazia ( ab, Аԥсны Акзаара, russian: Единая Абхазия) is a political party in Abkhazia. United Abkhazia was founded on March 25, 2004 as a socio-political movement, with the specific goal of presenting a single opp ...
, 11 by the Forum for the National Unity of Abkhazia, 7 by the
Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...
and 6 by the
Party for the Economic Development of Abkhazia The Party for the Economic Development of Abkhazia ( ab, Аԥсны аекономика арҿиара апартиа, ka, აფხაზეთის ეკონომიკური განვითარების პარტია, rus ...
. The Central Electoral Commission approved the registration of 151 candidates. Of these, 3 withdrew their candidacy before election day. Of the remaining 148 candidates, 125 were ethnically Abkhaz, nine
Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
, eight
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
, two
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
, two
Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
, one Ossetian and one Kabardin. 16 were female.


Campaign

On 6 March, the
Russian Community of the Republic of Abkhazia Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
called upon voters in constituencies 7, 11 and 23 to vote for the Russian candidates Natalya Kayun, Andrei Kulikov and Viktor Vasilev, the first two of which had previously been nominated by United Abkhazia.


Monitors

There were 46-100 international observers from nine countries.http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c32/362886.html According to the CEC, the monitors would be from Russia (from governmental and
non-governmental organisation A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...
s), the
Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an area of and has an estimated population of 239,796,010. ...
, South Ossetia, Transnistria and Nagorno-Karabakh. Other states whose monitors were invited but had not confirmed attendance are: Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru and Tuvalu. Georgia steadfastly refused to observe the election on the premise that they claim Abkhazia is under "de facto Russian occupation" and that Georgian refugees who fled Abkhazia (by some accounts up to 50% of the population) are ineligible to vote.


Results


First round

There were 174 pollings stations. First round turnout was 44.5%. Only 13 constituencies achieved a majority to choose an MP; the other 22 constituencies would face a run-off.


Second round

Second round turnout was 46.21% in 20 constituencies. Of the 40 candidates for the 20 seats in the second round three of nine incumbents held on to their seats. Amongst the 20 members were three MPs from People’s Unity Forum of Abkhazia, two from United Abkhazia the 15 from civic initiative groups. The result will be finalised when approved by a court. Amongst minority representatives, Vagharshak Kosyan and Robert Yalyan were joined by journalist Levon Galustyan to have a total of three
Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
MPs, according to Khachik Minosyan, the Chairman of the
Union of Abkhazia Armenians Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...
. Galustyan said the election was flawless and praised his fellow Armenian challenger from district 20.


Rerun in constituency no. 1

The first round of the election in constituency no. 1 was declared invalid because the turnout had failed to surpass the threshold of 25%. On election day, the Constituency Election Commission originally declared that turnout had been 25.01%. However, after a complaint by two candidates that a mistake had been made in the calculation of the turnout, the Central Election Commission ordered the Constituency Election Commission to recheck the protocols. The corrected turnout was found to be 24.9%, invalidating the election. On 19 March the Central Election Commission announced that the rerun would be held on 6 May. Four out of seven of the original candidates were nominated again: Daur Achugba, Roland Gamgia, Yekaterina Glazkova and Talikh Khvatish. They were joined by one new candidate, businessman Beslan Eshba. All were successfully registered. Eshba won the rerun with 1932 out of 3413 votes (56.61%), against 782 for Gamgia, 520 for Khvatysh, 47 for Achugba and 43 for Glazkova. Turnout was significantly higher than during the original election, at 44.94%.


Rerun in constituency no. 21

On 29 March, the Supreme Court of Abkhazia invalidated the election in constituency no. 21 and ordered a rerun. The original count had given Aida Ashuba a slim first round majority of 401 votes out of 795 (50.44%), but after a complaint by the campaign team of runner up
Valeri Kvarchia The French name Valery () is a male given name or surname of Germanic origin ''Walaric'' (see Walric of Leuconay), that has often been confused in modern times with the Latin name ''Valerius''—that explains the variant spelling Valéry (). The S ...
, the election commission of precinct 1 held a recount. In the recount, 46 more ballots were found to be invalid, causing Ashuba's vote share to fall below 50% and making a second round run-off between Ashuba and Kvarchia necessary. Ashuba then issued a complaint with the Central Election Commission as his observers had not been present during the recount. The Central Election Commission agreed with the complaint and requested the precinct and constituency election commissions to uphold the original count. When the local election commission refused to comply, the Central Election Commission brought the matter to the Supreme Court. During the court proceedings it was established that contrary to election law, the ballot bag had not been sealed, and that during the recount, supporters of Kvarchia as well as Security Council and Interior Ministry officials had been present. The representative of the office of the Procecutor General argued that this constituted a breach of election law, that the irregularities in the transport and storage of election ballots meant that determining the correct election result was now impossible, and that both voting protocols should be declared invalid. The repeat election was set for 20 May, with the nomination period running from 31 March to 20 April and the registration period from 20 April to 10 May. Both Aida Ashuba and Valeri Kvarchia were nominated again by initiative groups. They were joined by Givi Adleiba, who had not originally participated. All three candidates were successfully registered. The rerun saw a much higher turnout than the original election of 1271 from a total of 1770 registered voters (71.8%). No candidate managed to score a first round victory in the repeat election as Kvarchia received 573 votes, Ashuba 502 and Adleiba 159 (37 votes being invalid). In the second round on 4 June, Kvarchia defeated Ashuba with 679 votes against 623, out of a total of 1334 — there had been 1779 registered voters.


Overview

The following table presents an overview of all the candidates, the votes they received in the first round, the second round run-off winners and the reruns.


Reactions

The head of the Central Election Commission, Batal Tabagua, said that since voter turnout exceeded the 25% threshold the election was declared valid. He also added the election was "calm and normal." The CEC spokesman added that "there weren’t observed any violations that could affect the people’s free will." The Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to claims of the election being "illegitimate" by NATO, the U.S. Department of State and its embassy in Georgia, the EU delegation to Georgia, PACE co-reporters on Georgia and the Foreign Ministries of Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland and Azerbaijan as them having "not see fit to support their conclusions by any legal or factual evidence. Such conclusions could have been made only from direct observation of preparation and conduct of voting in the elections to the People's Assembly of the Republic of Abkhazia. However, none of the above-mentioned countries and organisations sent their observers here, though the Central Election Commission of Abkhazia would have definitely provided them everything necessary for quality monitoring of the voting process." It also added that all the observers, including from the UN-member states of Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Tuvalu, as well as the European parliament and international NGOs confirmed the election was in line with international democratic standards and that "people of Abkhazia recognised the legitimacy of voting procedures in their state long ago." * - Georgia called the election "illegitimate" under their claim that Abkhazia was under Russian "occupation" after the 2008 Russia Georgia war. **A statement from the Tbilisi, Georgia-based government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia read: "Occupied Abkhazia is not a subject under international law. Therefore, elections held there can’t be regarded in the light of international law." Levan Tevzaia, a representative of the organisation said: "The de facto parliamentary elections are under way in an occupied region of Georgia, from where the absolute majority of the population is displaced; hence, these so-called elections do not have a legal framework. It is an absolute fiction. The region is actually ruled by Russia." * - Sergei Markov, a member of the Public Chamber said that the election should give Abkhazia a legitimate parliament so as the country's problems. He added that "a democratic society is developing in Abkhazia. The republic is the most democratic state in the Caucasus and can set the pattern for Georgia." * - The embassy in Georgia said it does not recognise the election.


References

{{Abkhazian elections
2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...
parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...