Five candidates squared off yesterday in an election for the presidency of Abkhazia, all sharing a commitment to keep their breakaway region from submitting to Georgian rule.
Prime Minister Raul Khadzhimba, backed by outgoing President Vladislav Ardzinba and by neighboring Russia, was the front-runner, but opposition candidate Sergei Bagapsh posed a strong challenge.
Polls opened at 8am and were scheduled to close at 8pm.
Yesterday's vote was the first time Abkhazians cast ballots since Ardzinba, 59, took the helm of the Black Sea region more than 15 years ago -- when Abkhazia and Georgia were still part of the Soviet Union. Ardzinba was legally prohibited from seeking another term.
The election underscored tensions with Tbilisi, which, under President Mikhail Saakashvili's leadership, has sought to rein in renegade regions.
Abkhazia's languishing economy -- crippled by sanctions from Tbilisi and a lack of international recognition -- has been the focus for much of the candidates' campaigning. Most Abkhazians are unemployed.
Bagapsh, head of the Chernomorenergo state energy company and leader of the United Abkhazia opposition movement, has campaigned on promises of raising the average wage and combatting rampant crime.
Georgian media have ignored the election, which Georgian officials insist is illegal.
"What's to be said about the situation? Foremost that there is no justice. They threw us out of our homes there," said Lado Adamiya.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in