SUKHUM, January 11. /TASS/. Abkhazia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) will announce the date of presidential election rerun before Monday (January 13) noon, head of the Commission Tamaz Gogiya told reporters on Saturday.

"We plan to take the decision no later than the first half of Monday. The law says we have five days, but we will not drag on even for five days," he said.

The court’s documents, after receiving which the Commission has to set an election, have been brought by opposition activist Alkhas Kvitsinia, Gogiya said. The issue of cancellation of the voting results was considered under his appeal.

"That is probably a legal decision of the court. We have to examine it and we will enforce it in any case," he noted.

A member of Abkhazia’s Central Election Commission who represented it at the court hearing on the legitimacy of the presidential election, Gabniya told TASS earlier that the Commission would propose a date for a new presidential voting in the country within the next five days, as ruled by the court. The voting is to be held within 2-3 months. Raul Khajimba, in accordance with the law, will have to perform the duties of Abkhazia’s President until a new head of state is elected and sworn in.

Gabniya also noted that, although the court has annulled the outcome of the 2019 presidential election, Khajimba remains the last legally elected head of state, since he won the 2014 election. Meanwhile, representatives of the opposition believe that the power should be transferred to the parliament until a new president is elected.

The political crisis in Abkhazia erupted on January 9, when protesters demanding the resignation of President Raul Khajimba forced their way into the building of the presidential staff. Khajimba called an urgent meeting of the Security Council to declare that the introduction of a state of emergency was not ruled out. Abkhazia’s parliament met in early session on the same day to vote for a message to the president urging him to step down.

The Supreme Court of Abkhazia overturned on Friday the ruling of the country's Central Election Commission on results of the presidential election and ruled to call for a rerun. That means the court board sustained Alkhas Kvitsinia’s appeal against the ruling of the trial court that recognized the results of the presidential election as lawful.