Abkhazia’s Supreme Court cancels lower court’s ruling on results of presidential election
The court board sustained opposition activist Alkhas Kvitsinia’s appeal against the ruling of the trial court that recognized the results of the presidential runoff election as lawful
SUKHUM, January 11. /TASS/. Abkhazia’s Supreme Court overturned on Friday the ruling of the country's Central Election Commission (CEC) on results of the presidential election and ruled to call repeat elections, TASS reported from the courtroom.
Thus, the court board sustained opposition activist Alkhas Kvitsinia’s appeal against the ruling of the trial court that recognized the results of the presidential runoff election as lawful.
"The Supreme Court’s Board of Administrative Cases has issued a ruling <...> on Kvitsinia's complaint to recognize the CEC decision on the results of the election as unlawful, saying it shall be canceled completely and a new judgement on the case shall be made. The CEC decision on the results of the election shall be annulled and a repeat election shall be called within the timeframe established by law," Judge Temur Tarba said.
According to the ruling, the presidential election held in Abkhazia on September 8, 2019 were declared invalid along with the decisions released by the Central Election Commission on September 9, 2019. The Supreme Court’s ruling as of January 10, 2020 came into effect since its announcement. The opposition activists, who attended the court hearing, gave a round of applause after the ruling had been read out in court.
In 2019, Abkhazia’s Incumbent President Raul Khajimba won the September 8 presidential runoff, securing 47.39% of the vote. His closest rival Alkhas Kvitsiniya, leader of the Amtsakhara opposition party, garnered 46.17%. The gap in votes between them was just 1,027. Some 3,155 citizens voted against all candidates.
A political crisis erupted in Abkhazia on January 9 when protesters, who demanded resignation of President Raul Khajimba, stormed into the presidential administration building. The president convened an emergency session of the country’s Security Council and said after the session that a state of emergency could be declared in the country. At its emergency session, Abkhazia’s parliament passed a resolution calling on the president to step down.