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Conflict in Abkhazia

Abkhazia’s parliament authorizes PM Bganba to act as president

The decision was taken unanimously by all the 34 lawmakers present at the session

Valery Bganba Valentin Sprinchak/TASS

Valery Bganba

© Valentin Sprinchak/TASS

SUKHUM, January 13. /TASS/. Abkhazia’s parliament has authorized Prime Minister Valery Bganba to act as president following Raul Khajimba’s resignation from the post, a TASS correspondent reported on Monday.

The decision was taken unanimously by all the 34 lawmakers present at the session.

Read also

Abkhaz vice president announces resignation

Earlier, Abkhazia’s parliament voted to accept President Raul Khajimba’s resignation. "To accept resignation of President of Republic of Abkhazia Raul Khajimba. To authorize Prime Minister Valery Bganba to act as president till the elections of the Abkhazian president. This order enters into force on the day of its approval," the document supported by Abkhaz lawmakers says.

According to parliament speaker Valery Kvarchiya, Bganba already has such political experience as he once acted as Abkhazia’s president.

Bganba, 67, has been working with Abkhazia’s power bodies since early 1990s. In 1991, he was elected member of Abkhazia’s parliament (Supreme Council). During the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict of 1992-1993, Bganba was a member of the defense headquarters of the city of Gagra. In the late 1990s-early 2000s, he worked in power bodies of the Gagra district. In 2007-2012, he was member of Abkhazia’s parliament (National Assembly), becoming its speaker in April 2012. Following resignation of the then Abkhazian President Alexander Ankvab in May 2014, Bganba was appointed acting head of state to cede the office to Raul Khajimba after elections in August 2014.

Abkhazia plunged into a political crisis on January 9 when protesters broke into the presidential administration building demanding resignation of President Raul Khadjimba. 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.

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