Abkhazia’s CEC Has Registered the First Party to Nominate a Presidential Candidate

SUKHUM -- A repeat election for the President of Abkhazia will take place on March 22. The registration of initiative groups and parties, as well as the nomination of candidates for the top position in the state, has been open since January 22 and will end on February 11.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Abkhazia has registered the political party "Akzaara" ("Unity") to nominate a candidate for the presidential election, Central Election Commission secretary Anush Khodzhikyan said.

She added that after registering with the CEC, the party must hold a congress at which a potential presidential candidate will be selected.

Earlier, Akzaara party chairman Leonid Dzapshba told the news agency Sputnik Abkhazia he intends to participate in the upcoming presidential elections.

The repeat presidential election in Abkhazia will be held on March 22. Registration of initiative groups and parties, as well as the nomination of candidates for the top position in the state, began on January 22 and ends on February 11.

Candidates may be nominated by political parties or initiative groups. In both cases, statements of consent to run in the election by the presidential and vice-presidential candidates are required, together with the results of the examination candidates must sit to assess their fluency in the national language, information about the size and source of their income, biographical data and a written autobiography.

If the candidate is nominated by an initiative group, it is necessary to provide signature sheets (laced and numbered with the signatures of the initiative group). Moreover, the number of signatures [must be] not less than 2000, but not more than 2500.

Former Interior Minister Leonid Dzapshba and parliamentarian and Bloc of Opposition Forces leader Aslan Bzhania previously expressed their intention to run for president.