Abkhazia president elected to 2d term

December 14, 2009|Associated Press

SUKHUMI, Georgia - The president of a separatist region of Georgia vowed yesterday to maintain close ties with Russia after officials announced he has won a second term in office.

President Sergei Bagapsh defeated four other candidates in Abkhazia, according to the preliminary results, the region’s election commission said.

Georgia’s national security council head, however, denounced the election as illegitimate and amoral, and other candidates alleged vote fraud.

Abkhazia spun out of Georgia’s control in fighting in the early 1990s. After the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia, Moscow recognized Abkhazia and another separatist region, South Ossetia, as independent. Only Nicaragua and Venezuela have followed suit.

Although the war focused on South Ossetia, Abkhaz forces with help from the Russian military succeeded in pushing Georgian troops out of the last bit of territory they held in Abkhazia.

Bagapsh appears to have no interest in reunification.

The Abkhazian elections commission said that a preliminary official tally showed Bagapsh won 59 percent of the vote in a race with the four other candidates.

His main challenger, Raul Khadzhimba, and two other candidates decried what they called widespread violations in Saturday’s vote. “We do not recognize the results and will appeal to the elections commission and in court,’’ Khadzhimba, who tallied 15 percent of the vote, told reporters yesterday.