GUAM Condemns Abkhazia Polls

Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova have condemned local self-governance and parliamentary elections in breakaway Abkhazia, respectively scheduled for February 11 and March 4, Ukraine said in a statement made at the session of the Council of Europe (CoE) Deputy Ministers? Committee on behalf of GUAM-member states on February 7.

?The illegitimate separatist regime in Abkhazia, Georgia is intending to hold so-called elections without the participation of the overwhelming majority of the local population, predominantly Georgians, who were forcibly expelled from the region due to a grave crime against humanity ? ethnic cleansing,? says the statement, which was posted on the Georgian Foreign Ministry?s web-site.

The GUAM member states are calling on the Council of Europe and its member states to condemn such ?illegal acts mainly directed against the peace process.?
 
?The so-called elections run counter to the standards and values of democracy and rule of law while being conducted in the region, where fundamental human rights and freedoms, especially of ethnic Georgians, are subject to gross and mass violations,? the statement reads.

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