Russian observers fix no violations at elections in Abkhazia

Alexander Pochinok and Igor Matveev, the observers from the Russia's Council of Federation, and Anton Belyakov, Russia's State Duma Deputy, have fixed no violations at the elections in Abkhazia and noted the absence of drops-in of ballot papers and "round-robins".

Today, Abkhazia elects its parliament. The local Central Election Commission (CEC) has already recognized that the Abkhazia's parliamentary elections have taken place.

The polling stations in the Gali District of Abkhazia, visited by the observers, were not crowded in the morning; however, by 11 in the morning, the voter turnout has increased. According to Igor Matveev, this is due to the fact that it suddenly became cold in Abkhazia, and it was snowing.

"We've fixed no violations capable to affect the course of the election campaign, we have not recorded," said Igor Matveev.

The Russian MP Anton Belyakov shares his opinion.

"There are no obvious violations that could affect the vote outcomes; there are facts that can be characterized as negligence. Thus, at one polling station, they forgot to remove some commercial ads. At the other one, they failed to remove candidates' leaflets, but not of some particular candidate, but of all of them. So, we can't say that someone was preferred. After our remarks, these violations were immediately eliminated," said Anton Belyakov.

Apart from Russians, the elections are observed by delegates from the CIS and the states, which had recognized Abkhazia: Nicaragua, Tuvalu and Venezuela, said Vyacheslav Vardaniya, an Abkhazian MP.

In its turn, Tbilisi had already declared the elections in Abkhazia illegitimate and stated that the outcomes thereof will not be recognized by the international community.