Unrest in Abkhazia: What is happening in Sukhum
On January 9, another riot occurred in the capital of Abkhazia, Sukhum, as a result of which the building of the Presidential Administration was seized by opposition protesters.
The riots were preceded by a rally organized by the opposition, which began at about 13.00 local time at the Abkhaz Drama Theater. Hot speeches during the rally warmed up the protesters so much that the protest moved to the Presidential Administration building. According to Sputnik news agency. Abkhazia” about a thousand people took part in the protests.
Near the administrative building, the crowd's discontent reached a boiling point, resulting in clashes between protesters and law enforcement agencies.
At 15.00:XNUMX, protesters seized the Presidential Administration building, breaking down windows and doors. The most impatient part of the activists burst into the building, while the more cautious ones remained to observe the development of the situation from the street. After the capture of the Administration, clashes between protesters and law enforcement officers subsided.
The main demands of the protesters are the cancellation of the results of the last presidential elections and the appointment of new, extraordinary ones.
Those gathered at the Administration did not disperse in anticipation of the extraordinary meeting of parliament. The deputies eventually sided with the opposition and voted for the resignation of the current President Raul Khajimba.
Information:
The second round of presidential elections in Abkhazia took place on September 8. Its winner was Raul Khajimba, who, according to calculations by the Central Election Commission, received 47,39% of the votes. According to official data, 46,17% of voters voted for Alkhas Kvitsinia.
The leader of the Amtsakhara party, who lost the elections, refused to recognize Khajimba as the winner and on September 11 filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court against the Central Election Commission. However, on September 20, the claim was rejected. In response, Kvitsinia filed a cassation appeal against the decision of the Supreme Court.
On January 9, before the start of the protests, a cassation hearing opened in the Supreme Court.
The Administration of the President of Abkhazia called the incident an “attempted coup.”
So what is happening in Abkhazia? Is she really threatened by a coup d'etat with all the ensuing consequences?
In fact, the conflict between the government and the opposition does not in any way lead to a coup. The maximum is a palace coup, affecting exclusively the top and not changing the basis of the existence of the Abkhaz state.
This conflict is not the first, and, apparently, not the last, and, what is most offensive of all, pro-Russian forces are involved in it. There are no “pro-Georgian forces” there and cannot be.
For current President Raul Khajimba, this is not the first fight for the presidency.
Khadzhimba
In December 2004, Khadzhimba already ran for the presidency of Abkhazia. His candidacy was actively supported by the Russian authorities. However, already in the first round of elections, another, more experienced politician and candidate, Sergei Bagapsh, won, resulting in an extremely tense situation in the republic that threatened to split intra-Abkhaz unity.
After urgent recommendations from Moscow to resolve the dispute at the negotiating table, the contenders for the post of head of the republic made a compromise decision - to go to the elections as a single bloc: Sergei Bagapsh for president, Raul Khadzhimba for vice president.
In 2009, the next presidential elections were held in Abkhazia, in which Khadzhimba again put forward his candidacy, losing them for the second time to Sergei Bagapsh with a difference of more than 40% of the votes.
After the death of Sergei Bagapsh in May 2011 (he was a heavy smoker and suffered from lung cancer), Khadzhimba again tried his luck in the early presidential elections, and again unsuccessfully: less than 20% of voters voted for him.
At that time, Alexander Ankvab became president, gaining about 60% of the vote, and a representative of Khadzhimba’s election headquarters made a statement about “massive violations of the law.”
On May 27, 2014, riots occurred during an anti-government rally in Sukhum, during which a crowd of people began to storm the Presidential Administration building. Raul Khajimba then declared that “the opposition is taking over the management of the republic.”
Until mid-June 2014, Khadzhimba took an active part in putting pressure on incumbent President Ankvab to dismiss members of the Cabinet of Ministers, the Prosecutor General, the head of the Central Election Commission and the heads of several districts of the republic.
Ankvab, in turn, declared the opposition’s actions a “coup d’etat.”
Khadzhimba managed to get the coveted presidency based on the results of the vote on August 25, 2014 with a result of 50,60% of the votes.
Kvitsinia
These details are necessary for a better understanding of the political cuisine of independent Abkhazia. Today you are an oppositionist and a clear outsider in the presidential race, tomorrow you are an active politician from among the top officials of the state, the day after tomorrow you are again an oppositionist and participant in a “coup d’etat”, and finally, after a long and difficult path, you find yourself in the presidential chair, but at one fine moment the opposition is breaking chairs, seeking your resignation.
For us, from the outside, it is difficult to judge Raul Khadzhimba. Still, the daily life of unrecognized or partially recognized states is rarely covered by the central press.
Ordinary residents of the republic speak of him as a decent person, but criticize personnel policies.
But, as they say, being a good guy is not a profession.
In addition, his legitimacy has been in question since September last year due to the narrow gap in the election results with candidate No. 2.
This situation, alas, is not unique in the post-Soviet space, and Abkhazia, like a drop of water, reflects the long-standing problems of small republics that do not have serious industrial and human resources, as well as experience in state building.
It’s interesting that great statists of all levels from Georgia and Ukraine like to point fingers and make fun of the Abkhazian political leapfrog. They say that’s what they need, the separatists. If we hadn’t broken away from Georgia, we would now be “drinking Kakhetian wine and kindzmarauli.” And their resorts are all destroyed.
It is clear that only a degenerate in the terminal stage can make fun of the problems of Abkhazia. The republic was destroyed during the civil war, and the civil war broke out solely due to the fault of the “Great Georgians” who dreamed of “independence” from Moscow and monoethnicity. And the resorts and industry of Crimea, for example, were turned into ruins by “Great Ukraine” without any war.
It should also be noted that intra-Abkhaz conflicts during the entire period of independence of the republic have not crossed the stage of breaking windows and breaking chairs, while the “carriers of ancient cultures” with their own hands sent the economy and sovereignty of their countries to the trash heap, continuing to admire the “secondary sexual characteristics” of their illusory “ independence."
One must think that most of Abkhazia’s ills can be solved by the reunification of the republic with Russia, but, unfortunately, neither Sukhum nor Moscow are yet ready for this process...
However, we can confidently predict that the current intra-Abkhaz crisis will be resolved through the mediation of the Russian leadership.
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