Abkhazian presidential candidate Beslan Eshba fails his language test

The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Abkhazia has registered four candidates for the early presidential election scheduled for August 24. The former Deputy Prime Minister Beslan Eshba was denied registration – in the opinion of the linguistic commission, he is not fluent enough in the official state language.

The early presidential election was appointed for August 24 after resignation on June 1, 2014, of President Alexander Ankvab. In accordance with the Law "On Election of President of the Republic of Abkhazia", a presidential candidate shall be tested for proficiency in the state language.

The test was conducted on July 14 by the methodology developed by the members of the linguistic commission and approved by the CEC. The candidates wrote a composition on the theme "Tourism in Abkhazia: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow", and then took an oral examination.

According to Academician Shota Arstaa (Aristava), the chairman of the linguistic commission, a candidate for the president of the country should speak with the people not just the colloquial, but the literary Abkhaz language. He drew attention to the fact that since 2015 in Abkhazia all the paperwork will be run in the Abkhaz language.

The opinions of experts polled by the "Caucasian Knot" as to the usefulness of the test of the fluency in the Abkhaz language have diverged. Alla Yazkova, the Head of the Mediterranean and Black Sea Division of the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences (PAS), has noted that such test is a must.

In his turn, Alexei Malashenko, an employee of the Moscow Carnegie Centre, has exhibited some scepticism in relation to the language test, noting that it has "some shade of provincialism."