A run-off vote is held on March 18 in breakaway Abkhazia to fill those 17 seats in the 35-member parliament, which were left vacant after the first round of votes on March 4.
Elections are held in 17 single-mandate constituencies where, according to the Abkhaz Central Election Commission (CEC), none of the candidates managed to garner enough votes on March 4, including in two constituencies of the Georgian-populated Gali District ? Shashikvari and Gali.
Tbilisi condemns polls as illegal. EU, NATO, Council of Europe Secretary General, OSCE Spanish chairmanship and the United States have also strongly rejected the Abkhaz elections.
But Moscow said it ?respects? the polls, which ?were a continuation of the democratic trends that were observed during the recent local self governance elections? in Abkhazia on February 11.
A small group of protesters gathered in Tbilisi on March 18 to protest against the Abkhaz polls and also to express solidarity towards three Georgian students who were arrested by the Abkhaz militiamen on March 1 while trying to carrying out a campaign against Abkhaz polls in the Georgian-populated Gali District.
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