22:14, 12 March 2017

Observers at elections in Abkhazia find violations, but treat them as insignificant

Counting of the ballots at the elections in Abkhazia. Photo: Sputnik, Tomas Tkhaytsuk

International observers, who monitored parliamentary elections of Abkhazia, highlighted such problems as inadaptability of polling stations for people with disabilities, illegal additional voters’ lists and finger-marking. At one of the polling stations in Sukhumi, two voters refused to vote after registration, being outraged by the need to mark fingers.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that today residents of Abkhazia have elected 35 MPs out of 137 candidates. Elections are recognized as valid at all the 35 constituencies.

Earlier, experts said that the main election intrigue would be the number of seats won by the party in power, and by the heterogeneous opposition. They noted the Abkhazian specificity that candidates’ relatives may play a decisive role.

According to Tamaz Gogiya, the head of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Abkhazia, only one complaint was received so far.

He also did not rule out that, judging by the number of candidates, "many constituencies will hold the second round of elections."

"The electorate of Abkhazia has demonstrated high political culture," the "Sputnik Abkhazia" quotes Vasily Likhachov, a member of the Russia’s CEC, as saying.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.

Source: CK correspondent