News

Elections to the parliament of Abkhazia

15.03.2017

Elections to the People's Council of Abkhazia passed without any significant violations, with the unanimous approval of foreign observers and an impeccably high turnout, but the main intrigue is that in most of the constituencies, the winner seems to have not outlined yet, like expect experts, there will be the second round.

By law, you can win in any of the 35 single-member districts by typing 50% plus one vote. However, given the number of candidates (there were 137 of them - 24 from parties and 113 from initiative groups), in about half of the districts there were 4-8 candidates in the struggle. Even before the election, political scientists predicted that such a balance would inevitably lead to a second round. Some representatives of the authorities of the republic admit that this will happen.

Voting in the polling stations was not organized in a traditional way - the citizen approached the precinct commission, he was marked with a marker on his hand, took passport data and then issued a ballot. The voter approached the booth with the curtains, which, contrary to usual, were often flung open, he made a note and lowered the ballot into a transparent urn.

All observers agreed that the elections were "without excesses" and corresponded to completely world democratic norms. "In terms of election standards, I have no comments - all in accordance with the Abkhaz legislation and international practice," said the first deputy chairman of the State Duma committee for CIS affairs, Eurasian integration and relations with compatriots Konstantin Zatulin, who visited several sites in Sukhum, Pitsunda and Gagra.

Member of the Central Election Commission of Abkhazia Dmitry Shamba in a conversation with a RIA Novosti correspondent also suggested that in a significant number of districts, there will most likely be a second round, since candidates in them may not get more than half of the votes.

In this case, within two weeks the CEC will have to appoint a second round. Repeated elections must be held within two months from the date of the first round.