Abkhaz Vice-President Resigns

Raul Khajimba, the vice-president of breakaway Abkhazia, said he had filed for resignation over disagreements with Abkhaz leader, Sergey Bagapsh, Russian news agencies reported on May 28.

Khajimba became the vice-president of the breakaway region as a result of a power-sharing agreement with the unrecognized republic’s president, Sergey Bagapsh, after fiercely disputed presidential elections in the region in late 2004. Khajimba had the backing of Moscow in the elections. The disputed elections and the subsequent political crisis in Abkhazia ended in late December 2004 and early January 2005, with a power-sharing agreement between the two figures, with Bagapsh becoming the president and Khajimba the vice-president.

Presidential elections are scheduled in Abkhazia in December, 2009.

Sergey Bagapsh has already said that he would seek re-election and local media in Abkhazia speculate that Khajimba may also run. He, however, has not confirmed it publicly.

On May 20 six opposition groups in Abkhazia criticized the foreign political course pursued by Bagapsh’s administration which, as they put it, was provoking internal political destabilization and anti-Russian stance among society.

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