Conflicting Reports Add Confusion to Abkhazia Elections

Controversial reports on the results of October 3 presidential elections in the unrecognized Abkhazian Republic triggered confusion over the outcome of the polls, which are not recognized internationally.

The Abkhazian Central Election Commission (CEC) has surprisingly announced that all previous reports that went through the newswires regarding the preliminary results of the October 3 presidential elections are not valid. The chief of the Abkhaz CEC Sergey Smir told reporters in Sokhumi that the early results of the polls will be known only by the evening of October 4.

The information over the election results, which gave victory to outgoing Abkhaz leader Vladislav Ardzinba’s favorite candidate Raul Khajimba with 53% of the votes, was reportedly direct from Abkhaz electoral officials. Moreover, a web-site of the Abkhaz CEC, once thought official but recently denounced by the CEC itself, even posted a graph of data showing the distribution of votes early on October 4. But this graph was removed later on the same day. The CEC even reported that it never had a web-site at all.

The controversy over the election results reporting follows the protest by opposition candidate Sergey Bagapsh, who, according to the early official results, received only 33.5% of votes. Reports say that the opposition condemned the election results as rigged and demanded a recount of the votes.

Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported that around 100 supporters of Sergey Bagapsh gathered outside the CEC office in Sokhumi on October 4 and demanded from the officials to publicize election results.

But Chairman of the Abkhaz CEC Sergey Smir said at a news briefing that the announcement of the election results were delayed because of the appeals of two presidential candidates – Raul Khajimba and Sergey Bagapsh over the procedural violations reported during the voting on October 3.

According to the Russian NTV television a local influential businessmen, backed by the strong Abkhaz opposition groups Sergey Bagapsh claims victory citing the copies of documentation received from the district election commissions, which shows that he has received 56% of votes.