19:15, 17 February 2025

Georgia condemns Abkhazia's presidential election

At a polling station no. 1 in Sukhumi Medical College. February 15, 2025. Screenshot of a video posted by Apsnypress https://t.me/apsnypress/17151

The Abkhaz presidential election is illegal and will have no legal force, the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that today Abkhazia is holding its early presidential election. The Election Commission has declared the election as validly taken place.

Five candidates are running for the post: Badra Gunba, Vice President (who was appointed acting president after Aslan Bzhaniya's resignation, and Valery Bganba is replacing him during the election campaign); Oleg Bartsits, a former Abkhazia's trade representative in Russia; Adgur Ardzinba, the leader of the oppositional "Abkhaz People's Movement"; Robert Arshba, a former chairman of the control chamber; and Adgur Khurkhumal, a board member of the founders of the "Black Sea Development Bank".

The Georgian MFA has treated the election in Abkhazia as "a gross violation of Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity," the MFA's website has stated.

Georgia treats Abkhazia and South Ossetia as the territories occupied by Russia after on August 8, 2008, Russia intervened in the Georgian-South-Ossetian armed conflict and then recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The Georgian MFA has demanded from the international community to "assess" and respond to "the actions that infringe on Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity."

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 15, 2025 at 07:21 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Source: Caucasian Knot