Parliamentary election run-off on Sunday in Abkhazia was valid with about 50% voter turnout, Batal Tabagua, the Chairman of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of breakaway Abkhazia, said at a news conference in Sokhumi on March 19, Apsnipress news agency reported.
Run-off vote was held to fill those 17 seats in the 35-member parliament which were left vacant after the first round of votes on March 4.
Candidates supporting Abkhaz leader Sergey Bagapsh won run-off in 15 out of 17 singe-mandate constituencies. 13 candidates elected during the first round of vote on March 4 are supporters of the Abkhaz leader.
There are 27 ethnic Abkhazians, three Russians, three Armenians and two ethnic Georgians in the newly elected Abkhaz Parliament, Batal Tabagua said.
He also said that no major violations were observed during the elections.
But according to Georgian sources, both March 18 and March 4 elections were thwarted in the Gali district of breakaway Abkhazia, as the local Georgian population boycotted the elections. The run-off elections were held on March 18 in two out of three constituencies of the Gali District ? Shashikvari and Gali.
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