Abkhazia is holding its first parliamentary elections as a recognized independent state on Saturday, amid tension following a failed assassination attempt on its newly elected President Alexander Ankvab last month.
“Abkhazia's Internal Affairs Ministry is working in a special regime due to the parliamentary elections in the republic. We have enough police officers in all areas to ensure public order,” Interior Minister Otar Khetsia said.
Eight women are among the 148 candidates contesting the 35 seats in the national parliament. The elections are considered valid if the turnout exceeds 25 percent of voters under Abhazia's constitution.
Forty six international observers have arrived in the republic from Russia, Latvia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Italy, France, Tuvalu, Moldovan Transdniestrian Republic, Nagorno-Karabakh, CIS Interstate Parliamentary Assembly, and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia.
Abkhazia, along with South Ossetia, is one of two breakaway regions of Georgia which gained de facto independence following separatist conflicts within Georgia following that nation's independence from the USSR in 1991.
It has only been recognized as independent by Russia and a handful of other nations. Russia granted recognition following a conflict with Georgia after it attacked South Ossetia in 2008 in a brief war.
