Today some news channels announced re-election of Mr. Bagapsh in Abkhazia. Some of them said about election: "It was free and fair, democratic." Somehow in democratic Abkhazia ethnic Georgians are not allowed to vote. Let us know what you think about the issue. Very interesting is opinion of Abkhazians, is it all free and fair?
Links:
Washington calls presidential elections in Abkhazia illegitimate
ReplyDeleteTbilisi calls presidential elections in Abkhazia illegitimate
I believe you understand that those are just political expression.
They may not recognize the elections.
But that doesn't change the reality of the elections are free and democratic.
I didn't hear from any country except Georgia that they are saying elections are not fair and free.
In elections you can understand if the election is fair and democratic or free by report of independent observers. That is why they are observing there.
There were different observer groups in Abkhazia; A group of observers from Russia and CIS countries, A group from Latin American countries and another group is called "The Mission of foreign (international) observers" which includes the countries;
Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, the United States of America, Finland, France, Czech Republic and Switzerland.
And here is their report that they declared ;
The Mission of foreign (international) observers at the presidential elections in the Republic of Abkhazia:
• considers that the elections were held according to the norms of the election legislation in force in the country and with observance of international democratic standards, in the atmosphere of equal political competition;
• recognizes the presidential elections free, open and legitimate;
• will strive for informing the world community of its work and the elections results.
All other observer groups expressed similar conclusions.
About Al Jazeera's news ; the source of that news is mentioned as "Agencies" on their web page on the bottom of the news. I did not read that kind of news in any agencies. If any of you saw please let us know.
I don't know how many Georgians voted in elections.
But as I know there are 12.000 ethnic Georgians have Abkhazian citizenship in Abkhazia. So if we say half of them has legal age for voting. There should be around 6.000 Georgian votes.
If they don't have Abkhazian citizenship they can not vote. This is same for everyone Abkhazian or Russian or Armenian or Georgian.
So as a conclusion, I believe that elections were free and fair.
its a joke of course.
ReplyDeleteСергей Багапш: «Нас не волнует, что Россия пользуется нами для достижения своих геополитических целей».
ReplyDeleteArticle: disputed election
ReplyDeletehttp://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2009/1214/Abkhazia-insists-independence-from-Georgia-assured-after-disputed-election
GE: http://foreignpress.ge/?p=10764
well Alper, it depends what is a standard you take for measuring the fairness and freedom.
ReplyDelete40 000 tthnic Georgians who live in Abkhazia were not allowed to vote because, they did not issue passports for them (in 2004 ethnic Georgians did vote)...more that 200 000 IDPs who are legal residents of Abkhazia did not vote either...so, is it fair and free?
Thank you Medea,
ReplyDeleteI really want all Georgians in Abkhazia could vote for the elections.
There were 15.000 Georgians participated in last elections. On that time Abkhazia were not asking Abkhazian passport.
Abkhazian Election Law has been changed and in the law it makes the Abkhazian passport the sole document granting participation in the election.
Isn't it normal? It is same for almost all countries in the world. If you do not have citizenship you can not vote even you have resident permit.
I will give you an example from Georgia's close friend Latvia.
There are 350.000 residents in Latvia who are non-citizens.
Non-citizens can not vote in Latvia and non-citizens cannot hold certain positions in local and national government, the civil service, and other governmental entities.
The %16 of the population is non-citizen even they were living there for years. They were citizens in Soviet times but when Latvia declared independence from Soviet Republic, it didn't give citizenship to the Non-Latvians in Latvia. So that people can gain citizenship by passing the language tests, history tests etc.
Then they get their citizenship and have right to vote.
If that is fair why not Abkhazia's rule is not fair. What is your fairness level? Same with that EU country or you have any advice?
So the elections in Abkhazia was nothing against law. And I believe it is fair. The residents of the Republic of Abkhazia if they want to be part of the future of Abkhazia,they have to be citizen.
So if Georgians in Abkhazia get Abkhazian citizenship they will have right to vote. This is simple.
For IDP's, there are talks still going on IDP status. Abkhazia does not say that Abkhazia will not accept them back. But there are some points that 2 side couldnt agree yet.
Like the number of the IDP's , the places that they will return back, how many of them will return back, how they will be granted citizenship etc.
Those were expressed many times by Abkhazian side by details.
So when we could not agree on these parts how can you ask them to vote for elections in Abkhazia.
They will come to Abkhazia, they will granted for Abkhazian citizenship then they will vote. Maybe even they will loose their other citizenship. That is also normal and Georgia is even using this for their repatriants.
Meskhetians ,they deported from Georgia lands in 1940's. And Georgia finally accepted them to come back to Georgia with the law in 2007.
The law has some conditions, The Meskhetians who wants to come back to Georgia will quit the citizenship of the country that they live.
They will get a repatriant status in Georgia and then they can granted for a citizenship in Georgia.
Well , in the law it is also not mentioned that where those repatriants will be placed. To their old villages, where Armenians are mostly residing now. Or some other place where Georgia shows.
So you see it is easy to start a war. And not easy to get everything back.
You are always finding faults in Abkhazia and do not mention about Georgia's faults.
Please be more objective, and try to understand the realities.
You can not solve problems while you still see Abkhazia as the part of Georgia.
Abziaraz,
Alper
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDear Alper
ReplyDeleteBagapsh was considering to give Abkhazian passports to ethnic Georgians living in Gali, but the opposition and the society became alarmed that ethnic Georgian citizens would be more than ethnic Abkhazians and they withdrew Bagapsh's bill from the parliament. Is it fair when a state differentiates the ethnicity and grants citizenship on ethnic bases? thats what happened in Abkhazia in Summer. They declined Abkhazian citizenship to ethnic Georgians just because they were Georgians. So this is not about citizen or non citizen---this is about ethnicity... And Abkhaz practice definitely fails to meet international standards of treating national minorities.
As for IDPs, well, Abkhazian authorities were talking a lot but i saw a little of deeds. Well, they are not against of return, but only after first generation of IDPs die? is that a strategy?
As for the legality of the elections, of course they were not legal, as they were not authorized from the Center. You want it or not in legal terms Abkhazia is a part of Georgia. for this reason, international society does not recognize the legality of elections.
In practical terms, I as a Georgian citizen i would recognized the independence of Abkhazia as soon as ALL population of Abkhazia votes for independence (as Georgians did in 1991 referendum). But i underline, ALL population of Abkhazia, ei. pre-war population, regardless of ethnicity, race, religion, etc. That will be free and fair...