Presidential elections were held in Abkhazia on 3 October 1999, alongside a

constitutional referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

. They were the first direct presidential elections in Abkhazia, and resulted in a victory for incumbent President

Vladislav Ardzinba Vladislav Ardzinba ( ab, Владислав Арӡынба, ka, ვლადისლავ არძინბა; 14 May 1945 – 4 March 2010) was the first ''de facto'' President of Abkhazia. A historian by education, Ardzinba led Abkhazia t ...

, who ran unopposed.

Background

The previous

presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pr ...

in 1994 had been indirect, with Ardzinba elected by the People's Assembly. In August 1999 the Central Election Commission (CEC) headed by

Viacheslav Tsugba Viacheslav Mikhail-ipa Tsugba ( ab, Виачеслав Михаил-иҧа Цыгәба, ka, ვიაჩესლავ ცუგბა; born 1 January 1944) was the third Prime Minister of the Abkhazia, Republic of Abkhazia (a de facto independ ...

set-up 28 electoral districts for the purpose of the elections.

Campaign

Incumbent President Ardzinba was nominated by the national-patriotic movement Apsny, and also received the support of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

and the Abkhaz diaspora in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. On 2 September, the CEC registered the nomination of former Foreign Minister

Leonid Lakerbaia Leonid Lakerbaia (, ; born 1 January 1947 in Kutaisi), was the Prime Minister of Abkhazia in the Government of President Ankvab from 27 September 2011 until his resignation on 2 June 2014 following the 2014 Abkhazian political crisis. Lakerbaia ...

by his People's Party. However, his candidacy was not approved. The CEC also denied registration to Yahya Kazan, who had been Abkhazia's representative in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, on the grounds that he had not lived in Abkhazia for the previous five years and that he did not have a working command of the

Abkhaz language Abkhaz ( ; ), sometimes spelled Abxaz and also known as Abkhazian, is a Northwest Caucasian language most closely related to Abaza. It is spoken mostly by the Abkhaz people. It is one of the official languages of Abkhazia, where around 100, ...

. There were also rumours that former Vice Chairman Zurab Achba of Aidgylara would run for president, which he dismissed in an interview with ''Nuzhnaya Gazeta'' as a "nightmare of an idea".

Results

References

Abkhazia {{Georgia-election-stub