SUKHUM, January 13. /TASS/. Abkhazia’s Parliament is expected to consider the letter of resignation of the country’s President Raul Khadjimba on Monday.
The opposition leader Aslan Bzhania told reporters that the meeting will be held no later than 11:00 on January 13. According to parliament speaker Valery Kvarchia, the question of accepting the resignation and appointing the acting president will be resolved "very quickly." The speaker noted that, according to the law, most likely, the duties of the head of state will be transferred to Prime Minister Valery Bganba. Representatives of the opposition noted that there is a preliminary agreement with the Prime Minister on his appointment as acting president.
Khajimba, who offered his resignation on Sunday, has thanked his supporters and noted that he values an opinion of any resident of the republic regardless of his or her political position. "Thanks to everyone who understood and supported me, showed integrity in the common cause. I appreciate the opinion of anyone, whether in power or in the opposition. <...> God protects our sacred land, for which thousands of the best sons have laid their lives," he said in a statement published on the president’s official website.
Khadjimba stressed that he would remain with his people and would continue to serve for the good of Abkhazia. "I will be with my people, your troubles are my troubles, your hopes are my hopes. I will be in my homeland, for the future I will continue to do everything in my power," he concluded.
On January 12, Khajimba referred a letter of resignation to the National Assembly, or Abkhazia’s parliament. Khajimba’s resignation is now to be accepted by the parliament. According to the press statement, Khajimba steps down as president "for the sake of peace and stability in the country." Khajimba has been Abkhazia’s president since 2014. He was reelected for another office term in September 2019.
A political crisis erupted in Abkhazia on January 9 when protesters broke into the presidential administration building demanding resignation of President Raul Khadjimba. The president convened an emergency meeting of the country’s Security Council and said after it that a state of emergency could be imposed in the country. Abkhazia’s parliament gathered for an extraordinary session on the same day and issued an appeal to the president calling on him to step down.
On Friday, the Abkhazian Supreme Court’s cassation board cancelled the Central Election Commission’s decision on the results of the presidential polls and ruled to call a rerun election. 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 country’s Central Election Commission ruled to call the rerun elections on March 22. Khajimba however said he would challenge both the Central Election Commission’s decision and the court ruling.