Abkhaz CEC Agrees on Re-vote in Gali

The members of the Abkhaz Central Election Commission (CEC) agreed to render the election results in all three precincts of Gali district invalid. A re-vote has been scheduled for October 17.

Thus, the CEC yielded to the opposition candidate Sergey Bagapsh, who, according to the latest data, leads the polls. Bagapsh argued that there were no violations in Gali, but as a compromise offered to run a re-vote in the Gali District alone.

The Gali district is the westernmost part of unrecognized Abkhaz republic, populated mainly by ethnic Georgians who spontaneously returned to Abkhazia following the conflict in 1992-93. Only about one-fourth of the returnees are allowed to vote in the Abkhaz elections. Georgian officials are worried that the decisive role this district is about to play in the Abkhazia presidential elections may trigger further intimidation of, and possibly violence against, ethnic Georgians in the area.

The pro-government contender, Raul Khajimba alleges that many votes on October 3 were cast by Gali residents who are ineligible to vote. He presented voting records which were filled out and signed in Georgian, and identifications verified through Georgian passports as evidence of violations. Khajimba argued that only Abkhaz and Russia are official languages in Abkhazia and Georgian IDs should not be recognized as legal documents for voting in Abkhazia.