December 14, 2009
President of Abkhazia Re-elected by Wide Margin
By ELLEN BARRY
MOSCOW — Voters in Abkhazia,
the separatist enclave in Georgia, have re-elected President Sergei V.
Bagapsh by a decisive margin, amid protests from the Georgian
government that the vote was invalid.
In final results of the Saturday vote announced on Sunday, Mr.
Bagapsh won 59.4 percent of the vote, more than he needed to avoid a
second round of voting.
His closest rival among four other candidates, Raul Khajimba, a
former agent in the Russian F.S.B. security service, trailed with 15.4
percent. Turnout was 73 percent, election officials said.
Mr. Khajimba alleged widespread violations and vowed to challenge the results in court.
Mr. Bagapsh,
a former energy tycoon, spent most of his first five-year term fighting
to separate Abkhazia from Georgia. In August 2008, when Russia
recognized Abkhazia as a sovereign nation, his focus swung to a
different challenge: Negotiating its long-term relationship with Russia.
Pressure points have emerged in that relationship, from the Russian
hunger for beachside real estate to a contract giving Russia control of
Abkhazia’s main railroad. But Russia remains the only major power to have recognized Abkhazia,
as well as being its military protector and source of financial
support, and the five candidates all had similar pro-Russian positions.
At a news conference on Sunday, Mr. Bagapsh said that his victory
reflected a widespread desire to strengthen ties to Russia, and that
recognition from the West was not so important.
“We have chosen our path, whether the European Union and United States like it or not,” he said. “Abkhazia will never again be part of Georgia.”
There is little distinction between Abkhaz and Russian interests for
the moment, said Nikolai Zlobin, an analyst at the Washington-based Center for Defense Information.
But the next president will play a crucial role, he added, as the
Abkhaz balance a desire for foreign investment with maintaining control
over their territory.
“They know that the only thing they have is land,” Mr. Zlobin said.
“It’s not a big piece of land, but eventually it will be fantastically
expensive. The next president will be the guy who redesigns these
property rights.”
Nearly two decades after ethnic Abkhaz, who then numbered around
93,000, fought a war for independence, 200,000 ethnic Georgians remain unable to return to their homes in Abkhazia
and ethnic tensions remain strong. More than 45,000 ethnic Georgians
still live there, but most do not hold Abkhaz citizenship so they
cannot vote.
Georgian authorities called the election invalid, because, among
other factors, it excluded the votes of the long-displaced Georgians.
Temuri Yakobashvili, Georgia’s minister for reintegration, said Mr.
Bagapsh has little power in any case, given Abkhazia’s reliance on
Russia.
“At the end of the day, it’s an occupied territory and the Russians
are calling the shots,” he said. “The Russians are comfortable with him
and he will stay there. That’s it.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/14/world/europe/14abkhazia.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print
