Parliamentary Vote Slated for March 12 in Occupied Abkhazia

Abkhaz leader Aslan Bzhania set today March 12, 2022, as the date for holding vote to elect 35-member “National Assembly” in the Russian-occupied region.

Lawmakers in Abkhazia are elected for a five-year term through a majoritarian system in single-mandate constituencies.

During the previous 2017 vote there were about 131,523 voters eligible to cast ballot in the election, some 23,000 less than it was in 2011 ‘presidential’ and 2012 ‘parliamentary elections’ as thousands of ethnic Georgians, residing in Gali district, had been removed from the voters list.

According to the region’s 1999 constitution, Abkhazia is a “presidential republic;” its legislature can initiate legislation and submit it to the president for approval, and the executive can submit his/her own legislation.

Elections in the region as denounced as illegitimate by Tbilisi and the international community, except for Moscow and few other countries that recognize the region’s independence from Georgia.

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