Khajimba president of de-facto Abkhazia

Four candidates participated in the race, and all of them were faithful to Russian policy. Opposition leader and former KGB officer, Raul Khajimba won, as he is distinguished for his pro-Russian orientation and anti-Georgian sentiment.

The Georgian Foreign Ministry released a statement condemning the elections and appealed to the international community to do the same.

The ministry stressed that this illegal act represented yet another unsuccessful attempt at disguising the ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of people by elements of ostensible democratic governance.

The ministry emphasized that during the last twenty years, people displaced from Georgia's occupied regions have been deprived of the right to return.

“The fundamental rights and freedoms of a small number of Georgians still living in these regions, in particular their civil, economic and social rights, are being violated every day by the occupation regime. Of particular concern are the de-facto regime's statements calling for the harassment, and in some cases, the expulsion of ethnic Georgians living in the Abkhazian region,” the statement reads.

It should be stressed as well that provisions of the Ceasefire Agreement continue to be violated in conjunction with the grave human rights situation in the occupied regions. International observers, including representatives of the EU Monitoring Mission, are denied access to the Abkhazian and Tskhinvali regions. Actions designed to undermine the agreed-upon format and the agenda of the International Geneva Discussions continue to be reported, hindering the discussion of important issues on the agenda.

The EU immediately responded to the foreign ministry’s appeal. The statement reads that the EU does not recognize the elections held in the region, calling it illegal and a violation of international norms.

No one doubted Khajimba’s victory. However, there was a question of whether he managed to win in the first round or not. Nevertheless, neither the Georgians ousted from the occupied region, nor those still living there were able to vote. They were illegally deprived of this fundamental human right.