Tbilisi Blasts Russia for Polling Stations in Occupied Regions
TBILISI - Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said Russia opened 21 illegal polling stations on Sunday in Georgia’s occupied regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as part of the Russian Federation's elections to State Duma Elections.
The MFA quickly called the act “another manifestation of Moscow’s blatant annexation policy. One that grossly violates the fundamental norms of international law.”
“Russia chooses to ignore the essential principles enshrined in the UN Charter, including recognizing borders and maintaining a policy of non-interference in a sovereign state's domestic affairs,” the MFA's official statement said.
Moscow began the process of de facto annexation in the late 1990s by forcing local citizens in Abkhazia and South Ossetia to acquire domestic Russian passports. Russia and several other Moscow-aligned former Soviet republics have continued the old Soviet practice of requiring their citizens to have two passports. One functions as a national ID and is used for internal domestic travel, police registration and collecting social welfare benefits, while the second passport is used for international travel.
Russia first implemented its "passportization process" in the two occupied regions shortly after Moscow began paying local pensions to Abkhaz and South Ossetian residents.
In 2011-2012, Moscow required Abkhazia and South Ossetia's residents to participate in Russia's parliamentary and presidential elections after being forcibly being included on the official list of Russia’s federal voting districts.
Russia’s Central Election Commission said more than 114,000 people residing in occupied Abkhazia and South Ossetia were registered to in Sunday's elections.
The Georgian government is calling on the international community to take steps to punish Moscow for its continued violations of Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Tbilisi’s Reconciliation and Civil Equality Ministry also condemned Russia's actions, saying they require residents to vote in Russia's elections, but refuse their right to take part in Georgia's polls.
“Georgia’s government has once again called on the UN to formulate an appropriate to this provocative act. This is not the first time Russia has illegally opened polling stations in Georgia’s occupied regions,” stated Ketevan Tsikhelashvili, Reconciliation and Civil Equality Minister.
The opposition believes that this action is further proof of the government's incorrect policies and urges the ruling team to make more concrete steps in this direction.
“Russia has again confirmed that it totally disregards international law and ignores Georgia's free will on this issue,” Sergi Kapanadze a member of Georgia's main opposition party, United National Movement, said.
Member of the Free Democrats, Viktor Dolidze, believes this issue should be first on agenda, and Official Tbilisi should communicate with the UN more actively.
Official results from Russia’s Central Election Commission show President Vladimir Putin's United Russia Party will win more than 300 of the 450 legislative seats, enough to secure a two-thirds constitutional supermajority in the lower chamber of the Russian parliament.
The Communist Party with 13.45 per cent of the vote and the oddly-named ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party of firebrand anti-Semite Vladimir Zhirinovsky (13.24 per cent) are running a distant second and third.
Candidates from United Russia, which is backed by the Kremlin, the feared FSB security services and the powerful state-controlled media, are leading in 203 of the 225 single-member constituencies, with half of all ballots counted.
By Thea Morrison
Edited by Nicholas Waller