GEORGIA: Polls open in Abkhazia presidential election, voters hope for peace and order

Record ID: 1519651

  • Title: GEORGIA: Polls open in Abkhazia presidential election, voters hope for peace and order
  • Date: 27th August 2011
  • Summary: SUKHUMI, ABKHAZIA, GEORGIA (AUGUST 26, 2011) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF POLLING STATION POLLING STATION NOTICE HUNG ON BUILDING INTERIOR POLLING STATION VOTERS REGISTERING TO VOTE PASSPORT AND VOTER LIST POSTER SHOING PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES CANDIDATES SERGEI SHAMBA (LEFT) AND HIS VICE-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE SHAMIL AZINBA VOTERS IN POLLING STATION VOTERS IN POLLING BOOTHS VOTER CASTS BALLOT AS ELECTION WORKER LOOKS ON VOTER CAST BALLOT ELECTION WORKERS BALLOT BOX, BALLOT GOING IN POLLING STATION WORKERS AT DESK VARIOUS OF VOTERS REGISTERING TO VOTE QUEUE OF VOTERS IN POLLING STATION WAITING TO REGISTER (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) VOTER SVETLANA ACHBA SAYING: " The most important thing for us is that there should be peace, that's all we want." VOTERS REGISTERING TO VOTE (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) VOTER SVETLANA ACHBA SAYING: "The most important thing is that there shouldn't be war, so that our children can grow up properly". VARIOUS OF VOTERS REGISTERING TO VOTE STREET VIEW (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) VOTER VLADIMIR TSVINARIA SAYING: " We need law and order and humanity - an intelligent humanity." STREET VIEW
  • Embargoed: 11th September 2011 12:28
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Georgia, Georgia
  • Country: Georgia
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA33RN6PE9H91VGEKS0AI42R72R
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: The breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia voted for a new president on Friday (August 260, three years to the day since Russia recognised the sub-tropical slice of Black Sea coast as an independent state.
    Voters in the aspiring statelet of 200,000 people are choosing between three candidates to replace Sergei Bagapsh, who died in May having led Abkhazia since 2005.
    The outcome is unlikely to affect Abkhazia's deep dependence on Russia, its economic lifeline and military protector with thousands of servicemen stationed in what was once the playground of the Soviet elite.
    " The most important thing for us is that there should be peace, that's all we want," said voter Svetlana Achba as she cast her vote, adding, "The most important thing is that there shouldn't be war, so that our children can grow up properly".
    " We need law and order and humanity - an intelligent humanity," said voter Vladimir Tsvinaria.
    Some Abkhaz, who pride themselves on a history of resistance to stronger powers, are uneasy at the influence Russia wields, but the next president will struggle to loosen its grip.
    The territory is dependent on a growing influx of Russian tourists and budget support from Moscow. The Russian military is building an air base and naval port in Abkhazia, which lies 20 km (12 miles) from Russia's Sochi, site of the 2014 Winter Olympics.
    "We do not doubt that whatever the choice of the Abkhazian people, the dedication to friendship with Russia will remain unchanged," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Thursday.
    He said the election was "an important event in the life of a young sovereign state".
    Of the three candidates, former KGB agent Raul Khadzhimba has been the most vocal critic of Abkhazia's overwhelming reliance on Russian aid.
    Khadzhima is challenged by Prime Minister Sergei Shamba and vice-president Alexander Ankvab in what has at times been an angry campaign. There are few reliable polls, but observers say Ankvab, vice-president under Bagapsh, appears to be leading the field.
    A former Soviet apparatchik and Moscow businessman, Ankvab has survived four assassination attempts, most recently in September 2010 when unknown assailants fired a rocket-propelled grenade at his house.
    Russia recognised Abkhazia and Georgia's other rebel region, South Ossetia, after crushing a Georgian assault on South Ossetia in August 2008 following months of baiting and rising tensions.
    Venezuela, Nicaragua and the tiny Pacific island of Nauru followed suit, but the rest of the world considers both territories as part of pro-Western Georgia.
    Abkhazia says it wants to engage with the West, trying to position itself as an off-beat tourist destination, home to Stalin's luxurious seaside dacha. But it refuses to consider re-integrating with Georgia.
    Like South Ossetia, Abkhazia threw off Georgian rule in wars in the early 1990s with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
    The West is officially ignoring Friday's election, but continues to watch Abkhazia closely for its ability to stir friction between Georgia and Russia in the South Caucasus, a transit route for oil and gas from the Caspian Sea.
    Georgia says the vote is illegitimate.
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