Abkhazia chooses the president

The elections of the President of the Republic of Abkhazia took place. According to the CEC of the Republic, the average appearance of voters at 18:00 Moscow time as a whole in Abkhazia amounted to 58.49 percent. The highest percentage of turnout was recorded in the Tkuarchal district - 99.8 percent. 846 people voted in Moscow, 907 people in Cherkessk. This was announced by the head of the CEC of Abkhazia Batal Tabagua.

He apologized to the voters of one of the Sukhumsky sites, where a huge queue is still preserved. The head of the CEC assured that everything possible would be done so that people could vote until 20:00. There have been no complaints from districts and polling stations in the CEC. Voting will last until 20:00 Moscow time, RIA Novosti reports.

The current President Sergey Bagapsh, former vice-president of Abkhazia Raul Hadjimba, the leader of the opposition party of economic development of Abkhazia Beslan Butba, director of the Alkhazian Shipping Company, Zaur Ardzinba, as well as non-partisan and temporarily unemployed Vitaly Bganba, claim to the post of head of state.

- Abkhazia chooses the president

On Friday evening, Khadimba and Ardzinba applied to the election commission with a statement on violations during the campaign. They also argue that the number of voters in the lists has sharply and unexpectedly increased.

In response, the Abkhazian election commander called a special press conference at which he rejected these accusations. “When it comes to insinuations and that the elections are fumbled somewhere,” it offends us, ”Tapagua reports to ITAR -TASS.“ We have an answer to each item. ”

Western journalists note that the Russian authorities do not support any of the candidates, but in Moscow they would not want a repetition of the events of 2004, when disagreements about the results of the presidential election led to excitement in Sukhumi, the Air Force reports.

To win the election, the candidate should gain 50% plus one vote. Only the presented passport of a citizen of Abkhazia, in which a stamp is placed, can vote.

Three observers from each candidate are sitting on each polling station. The district election commission includes 14 people. In the areas there are transparent sealed urns and two or three voting booths.

Safety at polling stations is provided by more than 700 employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Abkhazia, which is transferred to an enhanced service regime.

The current president Sergey Bagapsh voted at the number one on the polling station, which is located in the building of the National Library named after I.G. Papaskir in Sukhumi.

At the polling station, Bagapsh told reporters that he came to vote with a very good mood, because the elections are always a big event, especially for Abkhazia, which for the first time holds democratic elections as a recognized state. “This imposes a great responsibility on all of us and our voters. These elections should show how much our society is ready to build a democratic legal state,” he emphasized.

Answering the questions of journalists, Bagapsh noted that "there are no violations so far" and that in the morning he received information from all cities and areas. He expressed confidence that the elections would be held in a calm atmosphere, because the CEC of the republic organized work well and "everything is transparent." “There should be no tension, and if someone is lifting, then it will be necessary to answer for this to his people and the state,” he said.

Bagapsh expressed the hope that the activity of voters would be good, sufficient for the elections to be considered that were held.

“All presidential candidates are serious politicians and should perfectly understand that today in Abkhazia we choose not only the president, we choose the course we will live on. We are not a state that could be forgiven, scolded, say that they are still unrecognized between the world and the war,” the President of Abkhazia said.

Answering the question of journalists, Bagapsh said that he would spend the election day at work and at the election headquarters, and would monitor the voting process throughout the republic.

The head of state is registered in the list of voters at number 276. The first president of Abkhazia Vladislav Ardzinba plans to vote on the same site.

The elections are followed by 83 international observers. According to the head of the Foreign Ministry of Abkhazia Sergey Shamba, observers arrived from Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Germany, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, the unrecognized Transnistrian Moldavian Republic, Serbia, Slovakia, the USA, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Finland, France, Czech Republic, Switzeria, Czech Republic, Czech Republic, Czech Republic, Switzeria, Switzeria. And also from South Ossetia and, "possibly from Nagorno -Karabakh."

Representatives of the State Duma, the Federation Council, the NGOs of some European countries, representatives of the European Parliament, as well as Venezuela and Nicaragua will also arrive.

The candidate of the current president of Bagapsha was nominated by the Republican political party "United Abkhazia", ​​Butba - the Party of Economic Development of Abkhazia, the rest was nominated by initiative groups.

As a candidate for vice presidents, the former Prime Minister of Abkhazia Alexander Ankvab, with Butba, is a former Minister of Internal Affairs Almasbey Kchach as a candidate. The historian David Dasania is running with Bganba, with Hadjimba - director of the Abkhaz Institute of Humanitarian Research (Abigi) Vasily Avidzba, with Ardzinba - the former head of the administration of the Ochamchirsky district Khrips Jopua.

According to forecasts, there will be a second round

Georgia, however, has already called the vote “comedy”, which is played by Russia, which holds a military contingent of about 3.6 thousand people in Abkhazia.

Some analysts suggest that the elections will end only in the second round, where the current leader of the Bagapsh region and another candidate who gained the largest number of votes may meet.

Bagapsh considers his main achievement the recognition of the independence of Abkhazia by Russia. However, some residents of the region criticize him for establishing overly cramped relations with Moscow, threatening the loss of independence.

According to the Air Force Abkhazia, 90% of foreign investment in the region falls on Russia. Thanks to Russian injections, the Abkhaz winemakers were increased to all the production and during this year they launched 7 million bottles of wine on the market, 86% of which was exported to Russia.

Most of the inhabitants of Abkhazia, whose population is about 200 thousand people, does not object to the presence of Russian troops and supports independence.

However, completely different sentiments reign in those areas of the self -proclaimed republic, where about 40 thousand ethnic Georgians live. Almost none of them have Abkhaz passports, and they cannot take part in the current elections.