OSCE Chief Rejects Abkhaz Polls

The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, has denounced the March 4 parliamentary elections in breakaway Abkhazia as ?not constructive,? adding that they ?could only increase tension.?

“I consider these ‘parliamentary elections’ to be illegitimate and not supportive of the UN-led-negotiation process aimed at a comprehensive and lasting peaceful settlement of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict,” Minister Moratinos said in a statement on March 7.

The March 4 elections in Abkhazia have already been denounced by the European Union, the United States, the NATO Secretary General and Council of Europe Secretary General.

Moscow said it respects the Abkhaz polls, describing them as an expression of ?democratic trend? in this unrecognized republic.

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