Rebel Georgian area upbeat after inconclusive vote
Source: Reuters
(Adds State Department comment paragraphs 14-15) By Indira Bartsits SUKHUMI, Georgia, March 5 (Reuters) - The leaders of Georgia's rebel region of Abkhazia said on Monday voters had shown their desire for independence at a weekend election that Georgia condemned as illegitimate. Abkhazia's poll failed to form a new parliament, electing only 18 members of the 35-seat parliament. The remaining seats will be contested in an election run-off in two weeks, the central election commission said. Georgian troops fled the province in the 1990s after a conflict with separatists. Russian-backed Abkhazia, a resort area on the Black Sea, has declared independence but Georgia wants to re-assert control over it. Separatist Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba said: "Abkhazia's parliamentary election has demonstrated its level of democracy, and the high activity of voters displayed their support for the building of an independent state. "The high turnout, the interest displayed by voters in the election and the fact that various political forces are being represented (in parliament) mean that Abkhazia has democratic civil society." All candidates in the election are calling for the province's independence from Tbilisi. But those elected to the new assembly included five opposition candidates who have urged President Sergei Bagapsh to take a tougher stance on the issue. A Georgian U.N. envoy said in New York the parliamentary and local elections were illegitimate and should be condemned by the U.N. Security Council. "Georgia considers these elections as illegitimate acts, which threaten the peace process," Irakli Chikovani, Georgia's deputy permanent U.N. representative, told a news conference. "The results ... are considered null and void." Chikovani said Tbilisi expects the 15-member U.N. Security Council to condemn Sunday's parliamentary elections and local polls held on Feb. 11 when it considers next month whether to extend a U.N. observer mission in Georgia. "UNACCEPTABLE" Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili called the elections "unacceptable" on Sunday. A U.N. proposal to set Serbia's Kosovo on the path to independence has buoyed Abkhaz rebels, and the Kremlin has said Kosovo could be a legal precedent for other aspiring states. The European Union has rejected those suggestions and once again urged Georgia to maintain territorial integrity. "The European Union ... emphasises that it does not recognise the legitimacy of the so-called 'parliamentary elections' held in Abkhazia, Georgia, on March 4," the EU presidency said in a statement. In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States supported Georgia's territorial integrity and did not recognize the weekend "elections" held in Abkhazia. "By raising political tensions between the sides, these elections detract from international efforts to achieve a just and lasting settlement of the Abkhazia conflict," McCormack said in a statement. Run-offs will be held in the 17 seats where no candidate won a majority of the votes in Sunday's election. Georgia lost control over Abkhazia and another separatist province, South Ossetia, in the 1990s after bloody wars. Finding a lasting settlement to the disputes is key to Georgia's ambition to join NATO as no country can become a member while its domestic conflicts remain unresolved. (additional reporting by Brussels Bureau)
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