Tbilisi Condemns Parliamentary Elections in Breakaway Abkhazia
TBILISI – Officials in Tbilisi condemn illegal parliamentary elections held on March 12 in Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia, which is backed by the Russian Federation. Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) released a special statement, calling the act “another attempt at the legitimization of circumstances that are the consequence of several waves of ethnic cleansing, military invasion, occupation and lasting aggression by Russia against the Georgian statehood.”
The ministry stated that according to international law, any elections or referendums in the occupied territories of Georgia are illegal and do not have any legal effect.
“The elections took place in the context of the Russian Federation’s noncompliance with its obligations under the August 12, 2008 Ceasefire Agreement and in parallel with intensified military build-up, and itadvances the factual annexation of Georgia’s occupied regions through their integration into Russia’s military, political, economic and social system,” The MFA underlined.
Moreover, the ministry claims that people displaced from Georgia's occupied territories are deprived of the right to return to the places of their birth while the locals remaining in those regions suffer ethnic discrimination and gross violations of basic human rights and freedoms.
The MFA also says that international security and human rights mechanisms, including representatives of the EU Monitoring Mission are denied access to occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions of Georgia.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia appeals to the international community to give a due assessment to the illegal parliamentary elections and calls upon the Russian Federation to respect the fundamental norms and principles of international law,” the statement reads.
Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili also condemned the fact. According to him, these elections have no juridical power and are illegal.
“In the situation when a foreign state-the Russian Federation-is exercising control over an occupied territory, it is impossible to talk about the expression of free will of the local population,” the statement of Margvelashvili reads.
The President called on the international community not to legitimize the occupation regime and reminded the Russian Federation to fulfill its obligations undertaken under the August 12, 2008 Ceasefire Agreement and to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia.
The elections in occupied Abkhazia were held to elect the 35-member National Assembly from total 137 candidates. Only locals, who held Abkhazian passports were able to take part in the so-called elections.
Election officials reported that the turnout exceeded 50 percent in total 152 polling stations. The preliminary results are expected to be published later today.
By Thea Morison
Photo: ansnypress.info