Abkhazia struggles with controversies in presidential poll

[bemildred]

Abkhazia? Where's Abkhazia? Another unsettled part of
Georgia. A bit West of S. Ossetia. Not to be confused with
Adzharskaya to the South, also a Georgian "autonomous region".

Abkhazian President Vladislav Ardzinba dismissed his prime minister, presidential candidate Raul Khadzhimba, to dispel any accusations of favoritism following the separatist region's inconclusive election.

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Abkhazia's first openly contested presidential election ended in confusion as election officials repeatedly delayed announcing vote totals and Khadzhimba, the government-supported candidate, alleged widespread violations.

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Abkhazia has run its own affairs since driving out Georgian government troops in 1993, cultivating close ties with Russia. The region is not recognized internationally, and Georgian officials have called the election illegal.

All five candidates pledged to maintain Abkhazia's de facto independence. Khadzhimba, the dismissed prime minister, had the backing of the Kremlin as well as the support of Ardzinba, who had run Abkhazia since its time as an autonomous region inside the then-Soviet republic of Georgia.

Taipei Times

[Aidoneus]

1. seems to be contested..

A part of me recognizes that this is a short article, not heavy on details and thus there has to be more to it.. the other part of me wants to email this guy, telling him "fuck it man, you won--just shut up and accept the post!".

7.10.2004 14:09 MSK
Winning Candidate Challenges Election Results

GEORGIA, Tbilisi. (Our Correspondent). Prime Minister and candidate for President of the Republic of Abkhazia, Raoul Xadzhimba, has declared, that it is impossible to consider the Oct 3rd presidential elections in Abkhazia to be fair. As Xadzhimba declared at a meeting with voters at the Sukhumi Philharmonic Society, during the elections pressure was out on observers, and other gross infringements took place.

--snip--

According to the preliminary results of the Central Electoral Committee of Abkhazia, the winner of the presidential elections on Sunday was Raoul Xadzhimba with 52.84 percent of the votes (101, 500 votes). In second place was the former head of the Chernomorenergo company, Sergey Bagapsh with 33.58 percent (64, 500 votes). These results were protested by supporters of Bagpash, who asserted that the election results were falsified.

--snip--

http://www.prima-news.ru/eng/news/news/2004/10/7/29671.html

It is interesting for the Abkhazians, owing their pseudo-sovereign existance mostly to Shamil Basayev & his Russian backers..

The whole bit of Georgia has been on the quiet swing-up as of late. I think you caught the S.Ossetian president wanting to join up with Russia, with the Georgian military having sort of the opposite in mind.. There was also another good Sobaka piece on S.Ossetia, which I think you posted? Besides that, there's been of late all sorts of menacing intelligence talk about the Chechen-Arab Abu Hafs & Pankisi, etc.. Not surprised at the talk against Georgia, but surprised it hasn't led to a tense outburst of some sort of chemical compound by now.

Since I'm writing generally aimlessly, was reading translations from the Russian press more about the Beslan storming--in attacking the place, the special forces used flame-throwers and various assorted launchers (known as the Bumblebee), in addition to machine guns, rockets, and helicopters.
Commentators on the matter assume that this may have been why there were many dozens of people still considered entirely "missing".. I don't think the people taking the next group of hostages should even bother bringing explosives next time--to again not set off, either way--, just make some announcement, stage some plastic props, then wait for the cavalry to furnish the body-count..

[bemildred]

2. Just part of the general chaos.

By any reasonable measure Georgia is a "failed state" and run by
warlords and gangs and spooks and such. There is no central authority
with the power to impose order. I did post the Sobaka piece.
They do post more thoughtful stuff on the outlands of the Empire
than one finds elsewhere. They had a bio up on the new Chechen
stooge recently.

This story was particularly strange, for the reason you state.
Perhaps he is worried about the legitimacy of his rule and public
acceptance. A refreshingly different attitude, if so.

I do have a sense that Pooty-Poot has become annoyed about the
situation in the Caucasus, and with the various outside parties
meddling there, but his options would seem limited. I expect one
reason the Russians have been so ham-handed is because they are not
up to any degree of finesse or patience. His military/police apparat
is so corrupt, and he is so dependent on it, that it limits what he
can do directly with it.

Georgia does seem to be central to the action, but in a rather
quiet way, nobody seems to want to focus attention on it, despite
the bizarre and occasionally violent things going on and it's
relevance to oil, drugs, the arms trade, terrorism, and so on.
The US seems to be using Georgia in an attempt to provoke Russia,
and Pooty-Poot has been steadfast in ignoring it, other than the
occasional outburst.

The haggling over the Russian troop presence and when and how they
might be induced to go back home is amusing to watch.

[dArKeRuSa]

3. Hi bemildred, it's me dArKeR. I don't have access to my

password so I made a new DU account. I'm in Spokane using my friends computer but he doesn't have any FTP/HTML editor. I tried to PM you but it doesn't work. I was going to email you some pics from Spokane. Here is my report I emailed to friends: (I have pics I can directly email to you.)

i'm in Spokane WA which seems as Redneck as Texas to Wyoming so why are there Kerry/Edwards lawn signs, car sticks, buttons EVERYWHERE? 90% Kerry 10% aWol. i even see "God Bless America" signs on the police and firehouses, which i believe is illegal but what one would assume is Redneck Repukelican and everyone here should be voting for aWol. people everywhere in this town are talking about and supporting Kerry. (i'm using a friend's pc and i can't make the pics smaller to show you all the houses with Kerry signs. we were just going to dinner and saw this 300 people plus anti-Bush march. it's really strange because this is a red neck hick town.)

it makes me wonder about the lying repuke media publishing lying polls. makes me wonder about repuke politicians all over america counting votes as they did/do in jeb's florida!

[bemildred]

4. Hmmmm.

1.) The arrangement where DU sends you your password by mail
works great, and very fast too.

2.) PM should work fine, I expect you need more posts or to get
your real account back.

3.) The Northwest has a quite different cultural and political
history from Texas and the bible belt. Think Joe Hill and
Woody Guthrie. Redneck and Blue Collar are not synonomous with
Wingnut and never have been.

4.) Polls and the major media are not there to keep you informed.
The truth is too precious to be handed out every day for free.