Government of Georgia Statement

On Illegitimate “Presidential Elections” in Abkhazia

Date: 13.12.2009

The so-called presidential election held this weekend in the Russian-occupied Georgian territory of Abkhazia is illegitimate on legal, political, and moral grounds. 

The territory of Abkhazia, occupied by Russia as a result of its 2008 invasion of Georgia, is not recognized as independent by the international community. As such, any "presidential" election is a political farce with no legal basis.

Furthermore, any election in Russian-occupied Abkhazia is illegitimate due to the fact that the 80% of prewar population of Abkhazia has been driven out by two decades of ethnic cleansing. In the 1990s, Russian-backed forces ethnically cleansed hundreds of thousands of Abkhaz residents—ethnic Georgians, Greeks, Jews and others. 

Again, during and after last year's invasion, Russian and Russian-backed forces drove out tens of thousands of more Abkhaz citizens on ethnic grounds. These Russian war crimes have fundamentally distorted the demographics of Russian-occupied Abkhazia and render any vote illegitimate and meaningless.

Today, over 450 000 IDPs and refugees from Russian-occupied Abkhazia and South Ossetia are denied their right to return home and to participate as full stakeholders—rights recognized in dozens of resolutions approved by the United Nations, the European Parliament, OSCE and other international institutions.