Abashidze: Adjara to Participate in Elections

Aslan Abashidze said in his televised speech broadcasted by the Adjara TV on December 28 that the polling stations will be opened in the Autonomous Republic on January 4 snap presidential elections.

“We agreed, I and Mr. [Richard] Miles [the U.S. ambassador in Georgia], that it would be better to put aside confrontation [with the country’s new authorities],” Aslan Abashidze, the head of Adjara Autonomous Republic said.

Aslan Abashidze was refusing to open the polling stations in the region, demanding from the country’s new leadership to postpone the elections until June.

Interim President Nino Burjanadze, State Minister Zurab Zhvania held separate talks with Aslan Abashidze in December to convince him not to boycott elections. The U.S. ambassador visited Batumi and met with Aslan Abashidze for three times in December.

Chairman of the Central Election Commission Zurab Tchiaberashvili left for Adjara to get acquainted with the election preparations in the Autonomous Republic.