SUKHUM, November 25. /TASS/. It is better to preserve the current political system in Abkhazia to address all issues related to constitutional reform, former President of Abkhazia Aslan Bzhania said in an interview with TASS.
Earlier, the Abkhazian opposition and a number of the republic's public organizations called for immediate constitutional reforms. In particular, they expressed the need to consolidate a mixed (majoritarian and proportional) electoral system for parliamentary elections and to redistribute powers between the branches of government to establish a mixed (parliamentary-presidential) form of government.
"The political structure of the republic should remain the same," Bzhania said. "I think they [the opposition] want to show themselves as reformers. I doubt that there are those in their ranks who could competently justify the need for constitutional reform and carry it out."
Abkhazia used to have a constitutional commission that made a number of mutually exclusive proposals, Bzhania noted. "This is the responsibility of the parliament. But they would be better off going a bit slow on that, because state institutions willing and able to function effectively should know both their powers and duties. Diffusion of responsibility is always worse than taking responsibility alone, we should keep that in mind," Bzhania said.
The former president also criticized opposition representatives, noting that the future of Abkhazia largely depends on fair, good-neighborly, and mutually beneficial relations with Russia. "With every action certain opposition representatives are now taking in this regard, they are ruining our state. Many of them have forgotten or seem to have forgotten that we are at war. A treaty on the non-use of force has not been signed with Georgia. Only those who lack understanding or play dirty politics can destabilize the situation against such a complex background," Bzhania stressed.
On the situation in Abkhazia
On November 15, Abkhazia’s parliament was scheduled to consider ratifying the agreement with Russia on investment projects by Russian legal entities in the republic. The parliament canceled the session because the deputies failed to approve the agenda. The opposition demanded that the parliament be reconvened to remove the issue from the agenda.
Later, the opposition demanded that President Aslan Bzhania resign and occupied the government buildings complex in the center of Sukhum, including the parliament, the Cabinet, and the presidential administration. As a result of negotiations, an agreement on Bzhania's resignation was signed on the night of November 18-19 between the authorities and the opposition. After that, the protesters began to leave the government buildings complex. On November 19, Abkhazia's parliament accepted Bzhania's resignation as president.