Internal political situation in Abkhazia complicated

The situation has seriously worsened after the celebration of Abkhazia's Independence Day, September 30. Russian State Duma deputies who attended the celebration on the republican stadium called upon Abkhazian citizens to give their votes to presidential candidate Raul Khadzhimba in the forthcoming presidential election. The next day, October 1, dozens of indignant supporters of presidential candidate Sergey Bagapsh came to the parliament building. Members of the parliament who were on leave were recalled and an extraordinary session of the parliament was held on October 1. Presidential candidates, heads of their headquarters, and representatives of the public took part in the work of the session. "The brightest day our people have - Victory and Independence Day was turned into the election campaign of one of the candidates, which is inadmissible," speaker of the parliament Nugzar Ashuba said.

In his turn, presidential candidate Sergey Bagapsh called upon everybody "to do everything possible not to allow clashes in the society and hold a fair and open election in a quiet atmosphere." In Mr Bagapsh's words, if the situation worsens, "it'll be impossible to control it. And it mustn't be allowed. The presidential election in the republic must be held on the appointed day."

"We had the only task - to hold a festival for people on Independence Day, September 30, without any elements of campaigning," Acting Prime Minister Astamur Tarba said during the session. The guests from Moscow were not invited to attend the celebration beforehand, he added. "With all due responsibility, I can say and assure there weren't any agreements and requests on the part of organizers of the festival and representatives of election headquarters to arrange campaigning," Mr Tarba pointed out. Touching upon the issue of financing the festival, Astamur Tarba said: "The government has singed a contract with a Russian firm, and under the terms of the contract, this firm will provide entertainment in the next five years with entertainers as participants. They arranged the concert free of charge. The government spent only 65 thousand rubles for the construction of a scene."

Presidential candidate Raul Khadzhimba's headquarters has no relation to the promotion show to support the candidate which took place on September 30, Independence Day, on the republican stadium," Akhra Bzhania, a leader of the Akhyatsa public movement, said during the parliament session. Mr Bzhania expressed regret about the happening. He emphasized that "neither in Raul Khadzhimba's headquarters nor in the Akhyatsa movement there are people not revering the memory of those who gave their lives for Abkhazia's freedom." "To accuse us of it is just not human," he added. Then he announced that the Akhyatsa movement and Raul Khadzhimba's election headquarters will bring a suit in connection with materials compromising Raul Khadzhimba published in Internet. In Mr Bzhania's opinion, these are "forgeries taken by Khadzhimba's rivals from the website abkhazeti.ru (The website presents the point of view of the pro-Georgian government in exile - editor's note).

It is also worth mentioning that yesterday, October 1, the Abkhazian National Television carried a live broadcast of debates with the participation of all the five candidates: Raul Khadzhimba, Sergey Bagapsh, Sergey Shamba, Anri Dzhergenia and Yakub Lakoba. The candidates called upon the voters to be calm and vigilant and to come to polling stations on October 3 to make their choice.