Presidential candidates suggest different methods of checking election results

On November 30, Russian Deputy Prosecutor General Vladimir Kolesnikov met with officials of the Abkhazian Interior Ministry. He announced during the meeting that lawyers of the Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) would make an assessment of election materials.

As reported by the Caucasian Knot correspondent, Sergey Bagapsh, the candidate for the Abkhazian presidency, does not refuse to carry on a dialogue with representatives of the Russian Interior Ministry, Prosecutor's Office and CEC, but he holds that representatives of the other states are not entitled to study documents of the Abkhazian CEC and materials related to the presidential election in Abkhazia. "We can familiarize our guests with election materials. But the Abkhazian legislation doesn't provide for an international expert examination of the results of elections in the republic," Sergey Bagapsh said today.

Meanwhile, Sergey Bagapsh's rival, Raul Khadzhimba, evaluates the visit of lawyers of the Russian CEC to the republic as a positive factor. "If the expert examination that will be done by the lawyers of the Russian CEC helps us find mistakes and violations made by the Abkhazian CEC, there'll be nothing harmful in it. The experts cannot give obligatory recommendations or set obligatory requirements," Mr Khadzhimba said.