2012 Abkhazian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Abkhazia on 10 March 2012, with a second round on 24 March. Voters elected the fifth convocation of the People's Assembly.

Background

This was the first parliamentary election since the August 2008 war and the subsequent diplomatic recognition of Abkhazia by Russia, Nicaragua, Nauru, Venezuela, Vanuatu and Tuvalu.

On 22 February, President Alexander Ankvab survived an assassination attempt as his motorcade came under attack on the road from Gudauta to Sukhumi. Though he survived, two bodyguards were killed. Ankvab blamed "mafia, criminal groups" and the "political circles" around them for the attack. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that it was an attempt to destabilise the country's political situation prior to the election.^[1]

Parties

Candidates could be nominated by initiative groups and by officially registered political parties (in at most a third of all constituencies, that is 11).^[2]

Candidates

In total, 156 candidates were nominated. 35 candidates were nominated by a political party and 126 by an initiative group^[3] (with some overlap). Of the candidates nominated by a political party, 11 were nominated by United Abkhazia,^[2] 11 by the Forum for the National Unity of Abkhazia,^[4] 7 by the Communist Party^[5] and 6 by the Party for the Economic Development of Abkhazia.^[6] The Central Electoral Commission approved the registration of 151 candidates. Of these, 3 withdrew their candidacy before election day.^[7][8] Of the remaining 148 candidates, 125 were ethnically Abkhaz, nine Armenian, eight Russian, two Greek, two Georgian, one Ossetian and one Kabardin. 16 were female.^[9]

Campaign

On 6 March, the Russian Community of the Republic of Abkhazia called upon voters in constituencies 7, 11 and 23 to vote for the Russian candidates Natalya Kayun, Andrei Kulikov and Viktor Vasilev, the first two of which had previously been nominated by United Abkhazia.^[10]

Monitors

There were 46^[11]-100 international observers from nine countries.^[12] According to the CEC, the monitors would be from Russia (from governmental and non-governmental organisations), the Commonwealth of Independent States, South Ossetia, Transnistria and Nagorno-Karabakh. Other states whose monitors were invited but had not confirmed attendance are: Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru and Tuvalu. Georgia steadfastly refused to observe the election on the premise that they claim Abkhazia is under "de facto Russian occupation" and that Georgian refugees who fled Abkhazia (by some accounts up to 50% of the population) are ineligible to vote.^[9]

Results

There were 174 pollings stations.^[12] First round turnout was 44.5%.^[1] Only 13 constituencies achieved a majority to choose an MP; the other 22 constituencies would face a run-off.^[13]

Second round turnout was 46.21% in 20 constituencies. Of the 40 candidates for the 20 seats in the second round three of nine incumbents held on to their seats. Amongst the 20 members were three MPs from People’s Unity Forum of Abkhazia, two from United Abkhazia the 15 from civic initiative groups. The result will be finalised when approved by a court.^[14] Amongst minority representatives, Vagharshak Kosyan and Robert Yalyan were joined by journalist Levon Galustyan to have a total of three Armenian MPs, according to Khachik Minosyan, the Chairman of the Union of Abkhazia Armenians. Galustyan said the election was flawless and praised his fellow Armenian challenger from district 20.^[15]

The following table presents an overview of all the candidates,^[16] the votes they received in the first round,^[17] the second round run-off winners^[18] and the reruns.^[19][20]

Constituency	Candidate	Party		First round		Second round		Notes
				Votes	%	Votes	%
1	Roland Gamgia		Independent	648	35.14			Election annulled
	Talikh Khvatish		United Abkhazia	454	24.62
	Daur Achugba		Independent	338	18.33
	Aidar Kvitsinia		Independent	195	10.57
	Yekaterina Glazkova		Party for the Economic Development of Abkhazia	115	6.24
	Eduard Keshanidi		Independent	60	3.25
	Pavel Bganba		Independent	34	1.84
2	Aslan Kobakhia		Forum for the National Unity of Abkhazia	746	27.09	No data		Elected
	Akhra Abukhba		Independent	547	19.86	No data
	Fazylbei Avidzba		Independent	458	16.63
	Vakhtang Pipia		United Abkhazia	451	16.38
	Temur Tabagua		Independent	301	10.93
	Akhra Aristava		Independent	153	5.56
	Dmitri Shlarba		Independent	98	3.56
3	Beslan Tsvinaria		Independent	488	25.40	No data		Elected
	Rita Lolua		Forum for the National Unity of Abkhazia	424	22.07	No data		Unseated
	Satbei Kvitsinia		Independent	328	17.07
	Vianor Tuzhba		Independent	176	9.16
	Ilia Gamisonia		Independent	126	6.56
	Mukhamed Bli		Independent	90	4.69
	Sergei Arshba		Independent	86	4.48
	Arkadi Jinjia		Independent	85	4.42
	Anatoli Pilia		Communist Party of Abkhazia	74	3.85
	Irina Mikvabia		Independent	44	2.29
4	Amiran Lagvilava		Independent	502	25.34	No data
	Valeri Agrba		Independent	393	19.84	No data		Elected
	Vianor Ashba		Independent	350	17.67
	Lasha Sakania		Independent	263	13.28
	Batal Kobakhia		Independent	176	8.88			Unseated
	Leila Tania		Independent	164	8.28
	Ivan Tarba		Independent	133	6.71
5	Akhra Bzhania		Forum for the National Unity of Abkhazia	866	43.08	No data		Elected
	Valeri Ardzinba		Independent	469	23.33	No data
	Iakub Lakoba		Independent	222	11.04
	Daur Tarba		United Abkhazia	193	9.60
	Andrei Tuzhba		Communist Party of Abkhazia	136	6.77
	Mzia Beia		Independent	124	6.17
6	Artur Mikvabia		Independent	635	31.31	No data		Elected
	Irina Agrba		Independent	574	28.30	No data		Unseated
	Astamur Adleiba		Independent	552	27.22
	Nadir Bitiev		Independent	185	9.12
	Marina Gumba		Independent	82	4.04
7	Zaur Iazychba		Independent	706	44.60	No data		Elected
	Ruslan Kharabua		Forum for the National Unity of Abkhazia	395	24.95	No data
	Astamur Kakalia		Independent	224	14.15
	David Chagava		Independent	115	7.26
	Natalia Kaiun		United Abkhazia	79	4.99
	Pavel Leshchuk		Independent	64	4.04			Unseated
8	Beslan Gubaz		Independent	883	40.71	No data		Elected
	Dona Malia		Independent	613	28.26	No data
	Almasbei Kchach		Party for the Economic Development of Abkhazia	556	25.63
	Stanislav Aiba		Independent	117	5.39
9	Valeri Bganba		Independent	1,029	54.59			Reelected
	Astan Agrba		Independent	856	45.41
10	Anzor Kokoskeria		Independent	815	41.20	No data		Elected
	Tamaz Khetsia		United Abkhazia	636	32.15	No data
	Nodari Kvitsinia		Independent	368	18.60
	Shota Bagatelia		Communist Party of Abkhazia	159	8.04
11	Beslan Bartsits		Independent	566	22.18	No data		Elected
	Vitali Azhiba		Independent	553	21.67	No data
	Gennadi Sichinava		Independent	517	20.26
	Vadim Smyr		Independent	471	18.46
	Aleksei Romanenko		Independent	141	5.53
	Andrei Kulikov		United Abkhazia	109	4.27
	Renad Benia		Independent	98	3.84
	Tatiana Pavlova		Communist Party of Abkhazia	52	2.04
	Leonti Bazba		Independent	45	1.76
12	Vagarshak Kosyan		Independent	1,276	60.50			Elected
	Valeri Mayromyan		Independent	726	34.42			Unseated
	Aram Kosyan		Independent	107	5.07
13	Georgi Agrba		Independent	611	39.42	No data		Elected
	Astamur Aiba		Independent	477	30.77	No data
	Kherson Dashelia		Independent	357	23.03
	Valeri Bartsyts		Communist Party of Abkhazia	88	5.68
	Beslan Dbar		Independent	17	1.10
14	Guram Barganjia		United Abkhazia	912	56.51			Elected
	Aleksei Tania		Independent	702	43.49
15	Mikhail Sangulia		Independent	865	48.06	No data		Reelected
	Aslan Lakoba		Independent	637	35.39	No data
	Remzik Chirikbaia		Forum for the National Unity of Abkhazia	298	16.56
16	Zaur Avidzba		Independent	867	34.72	No data
	Leonid Chamagua		Independent	666	26.67	No data		Elected
	Anri Jergenia		Independent	555	22.23
	Viacheslav Ardzinba		Independent	409	16.38
17	Dmitri Gunba		United Abkhazia	1,010	49.95	No data		Elected
	Givi Gabnia		Party for the Economic Development of Abkhazia	788	38.97	No data
	Lev Shamba		Communist Party of Abkhazia	224	11.08			Unseated
18	Akhra Pachulia		Independent	799	52.84			Elected
	Vitali Smyr		Independent	713	47.16			Unseated
19	Fazlibei Avidzba		Independent	620	58.33			Elected
	Zhuzhuna Bigvava		Independent	443	41.67
20	Galust Trapizonyan		Independent	654	42.08	No data
	Levon Galustyan		Independent	651	41.89	No data		Elected
	Farat Mikaelyan		United Abkhazia	136	8.75
	Valeri Bganba		Independent	113	7.27
21	Aida Ashuba		Independent	—	—			Election annulled
	Valeri Kvarchia		Independent	—	—
	Diana Pilia		Independent	—	—
	Dmitri Sevastidi		Independent	—	—
22	Robert Yaylyan		Independent	711	52.55			Elected
	Sergei Matosyan		Independent	360	26.61			Unseated
	Albert Kapikyan		Independent	282	20.84
23	Said Kharazia		Independent	1,041	51.51			Elected
	Aleksandr Studenikin		Forum for the National Unity of Abkhazia	379	18.75
	David Gabnia		Independent	307	15.19
	Viktor Vasilev		Independent	294	14.55			Unseated
24	Adgur Kharazia		Independent	528	37.90	No data		Reelected
	Aleksei Lataria		Independent	504	36.18	No data
	Ziulfi Achuzba		Forum for the National Unity of Abkhazia	361	25.92
25	Daur Arshba		Forum for the National Unity of Abkhazia	778	36.92	No data		Unseated. From district Nº 30
	Yuri Zukhba		Independent	743	35.26	No data		Reelected
	Zaur Zarandia		United Abkhazia	586	27.81
26	Temur Logua		Independent	839	47.11	No data		Elected
	Khrips Jopua		Independent	475	26.67	No data
	Daur Tsvizhba		Independent	289	16.23
	Zaur Adleiba		Independent	178	9.99			Unseated
27	Nugzar Ashuba		Independent	449	29.16	No data		Unseated
	Appolon Gurgulia		Forum for the National Unity of Abkhazia	384	24.94	No data		Elected
	Almas Kvaratskhelia		Independent	382	24.81
	Ramiz Tabagua		Independent	276	17.92
	Klara Sakania		Independent	49	3.18
28	Temur Kvitsinia		Independent	737	55.46			Reelected
	Adgur Kakoba		Independent	236	17.76
	Tamaz Gogia		Independent	205	15.43
	Andrei Anua		Independent	151	11.36
29	Otar Tsvizhba		Independent	1,631	68.70			Elected
	Grigori Latsuzhba		Independent	520	21.90
	Aleksandr Adleiba		Independent	223	9.39
30	Raul Khajimba		Forum for the National Unity of Abkhazia	1,311	74.74			Elected
	Daur Ferizba		Independent	331	18.87
	Anzor Argun		Party for the Economic Development of Abkhazia	112	6.39
31	Kan Kvarchia		Independent	457	42.28	No data		Elected
	Aleksandr Chengelia		Independent	271	25.07	No data		Unseated
	Alkhaz Manargia		Independent	242	22.39
	Tengiz Malandzia		Independent	111	10.27
32	Emma Gamisonia		Independent	1,621	67.68			Reelected
	Irakli Bzhinava		Independent	412	17.20
	Vadim Kvachakhia		Independent	174	7.27
	Beslan Bagatelia		Independent	157	6.56
	Joni Gularia		Independent	31	1.29
33	Akhra Kvekveskiri		United Abkhazia	808	47.47	No data		Elected
	Ruslan Kishmaria		Independent	520	30.55	No data
	Avtandil Chkadua		Independent	374	21.97
34	Nodik Kvitsinia		Independent	1,050	62.09			Elected
	Sergei Berulava		Forum for the National Unity of Abkhazia	379	22.41
	Ameran Akhsalba		Party for the Economic Development of Abkhazia	262	15.49
35	Bezhan Ubiria		Independent	1,105	74.76			Reelected
	Nato Butbaia		Party for the Economic Development of Abkhazia	373	25.24

Aftermath

Rerun in constituency no. 1

The first round of the election in constituency no. 1 was declared invalid because the turnout had failed to surpass the threshold of 25%. On election day, the Constituency Election Commission originally declared that turnout had been 25.01%. However, after a complaint by two candidates that a mistake had been made in the calculation of the turnout, the Central Election Commission ordered the Constituency Election Commission to recheck the protocols. The corrected turnout was found to be 24.9%, invalidating the election.^[21]

On 19 March the Central Election Commission announced that the rerun would be held on 6 May.^[22] Four out of seven of the original candidates were nominated again: Daur Achugba, Roland Gamgia, Yekaterina Glazkova and Talikh Khvatish. They were joined by one new candidate, businessman Beslan Eshba.^[23] All were successfully registered.^[24][25] Eshba won the rerun with 1932 out of 3413 votes (56.61%), against 782 for Gamgia, 520 for Khvatysh, 47 for Achugba and 43 for Glazkova. Turnout was significantly higher than during the original election, at 44.94%.^[19]

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Beslan Eshba	Independent	1,932	58.12
	Roland Gamgia	Independent	782	23.53
	Talikh Khvatish	Independent	520	15.64
	Daur Achugba	Independent	47	1.41
	Yekaterina Glazkova	Independent	43	1.29
Total			3,324	100.00
Valid votes			3,324	97.39
Invalid/blank votes			89	2.61
Total votes			3,413	100.00
Registered voters/turnout				44.94%

Rerun in constituency no. 21

On 29 March, the Supreme Court of Abkhazia invalidated the election in constituency no. 21 and ordered a rerun. The original count had given Aida Ashuba a slim first round majority of 401 votes out of 795 (50.44%), but after a complaint by the campaign team of runner up Valeri Kvarchia, the election commission of precinct 1 held a recount. In the recount, 46 more ballots were found to be invalid, causing Ashuba's vote share to fall below 50% and making a second round run-off between Ashuba and Kvarchia necessary. Ashuba then issued a complaint with the Central Election Commission as his observers had not been present during the recount. The Central Election Commission agreed with the complaint and requested the precinct and constituency election commissions to uphold the original count. When the local election commission refused to comply, the Central Election Commission brought the matter to the Supreme Court.^[26][27]

During the court proceedings it was established that contrary to election law, the ballot bag had not been sealed, and that during the recount, supporters of Kvarchia as well as Security Council and Interior Ministry officials had been present. The representative of the office of the Procecutor General argued that this constituted a breach of election law, that the irregularities in the transport and storage of election ballots meant that determining the correct election result was now impossible, and that both voting protocols should be declared invalid.^[27]

The repeat election was set for 20 May, with the nomination period running from 31 March to 20 April and the registration period from 20 April to 10 May.^[28] Both Aida Ashuba and Valeri Kvarchia were nominated again by initiative groups.^[29] They were joined by Givi Adleiba, who had not originally participated.^[30] All three candidates were successfully registered.^[25][31] The rerun saw a much higher turnout than the original election of 1271 from a total of 1770 registered voters (71.8%). No candidate managed to score a first round victory in the repeat election as Kvarchia received 573 votes, Ashuba 502 and Adleiba 159 (37 votes being invalid).^[20] In the second round on 4 June, Kvarchia defeated Ashuba with 679 votes against 623, out of a total of 1334 — there had been 1779 registered voters.^[32]

Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Valeri Kvarchia	Independent	573	46.43	679	52.15
	Aida Ashuba	Independent	502	40.68	623	47.85
	Givi Adleiba	Independent	159	12.88
Total			1,234	100.00	1,302	100.00
Valid votes			1,234	97.09	1,302	97.60
Invalid/blank votes			37	2.91	32	2.40
Total votes			1,271	100.00	1,334	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			1,770	71.81	1,779	74.99

Reactions

The head of the Central Election Commission, Batal Tabagua, said that since voter turnout exceeded the 25% threshold the election was declared valid.^[12] He also added the election was "calm and normal."^[1] The CEC spokesman added that "there weren’t observed any violations that could affect the people’s free will."^[13] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to claims of the election being "illegitimate" by NATO, the U.S. Department of State and its embassy in Georgia, the EU delegation to Georgia, PACE co-reporters on Georgia and the Foreign Ministries of Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland and Azerbaijan as them having "not see[n] fit to support their conclusions by any legal or factual evidence. Such conclusions could have been made only from direct observation of preparation and conduct of voting in the elections to the People's Assembly of the Republic of Abkhazia. However, none of the above-mentioned countries and organisations sent their observers here, though the Central Election Commission of Abkhazia would have definitely provided them everything necessary for quality monitoring of the voting process."^[33] It also added that all the observers, including from the UN-member states of Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Tuvalu, as well as the European parliament and international NGOs confirmed the election was in line with international democratic standards and that "people of Abkhazia recognised the legitimacy of voting procedures in their state long ago."^[34]

•  Georgia - Georgia^[who?] called the election "illegitimate" under their claim that Abkhazia was under Russian "occupation" after the 2008 Russia Georgia war.^[13]
  • A statement from the Tbilisi, Georgia-based government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia read: "Occupied Abkhazia is not a subject under international law. Therefore, elections held there can’t be regarded in the light of international law." Levan Tevzaia, a representative of the organisation said: "The de facto parliamentary elections are under way in an occupied region of Georgia, from where the absolute majority of the population is displaced; hence, these so-called elections do not have a legal framework. It is an absolute fiction. The region is actually ruled by Russia."^[11]
•  Russia - Sergei Markov, a member of the Public Chamber said that the election should give Abkhazia a legitimate parliament so as the country's problems. He added that "a democratic society is developing in Abkhazia. The republic is the most democratic state in the Caucasus and can set the pattern for Georgia."^[12]
•  United States - The embassy in Georgia said it does not recognise the election.^[35]

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