Parliamentary elections were held in

Abkhazia Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which vi ...

on 4 March 2007, with a second round in seventeen constituencies on 18 March.

Electoral system

The 35 members of the People's Assembly were elected in single-member constituencies using the

two-round system The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resul ...

. A total of 189 polling stations were used for the elections, with 129,650 registered voters.

Campaign

A total of 136 candidates were nominated, including 26 MPs. The Community Party was the only party to formally nominate candidates, with all other candidates nominated by initiative groups. The Central Election Commission approved the registration of 130 candidates, of which 22 withdrew before election day. They included 92

Abkhazians Abkhazians (russian: Абхазы), or Abkhazs ( ab, Аԥсуаа, Aṕswaа, ), are a Northwest Caucasian languages, Northwest Caucasian ethnic group, mainly living in Abkhazia, a disputed region on the northeastern coast of the Black Sea. A l ...

, 10

Armenians Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...

, 5

Georgians The Georgians, or Kartvelians (; ka, ქართველები, tr, ), are a nation and indigenous Caucasian ethnic group native to Georgia and the South Caucasus. Georgian diaspora communities are also present throughout Russia, Turkey, G ...

, 4

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 ''Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

and one

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

. President

Sergei Bagapsh Sergei Uasyl-ipa Bagapsh, ka, სერგეი ბაგაფში, russian: Сергей Васильевич Багапш, translit=Sergey Vasilyevich Bagapsh (4 March 1949 – 29 May 2011) was an Abkhaz politician who served as th ...

stressed the necessity of having a multi-ethnic parliament, where all the minorities were represented. He also stated that the prevailing issue of the election campaign was achieving international recognition for the

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

independent state. Three parties supported Bagapsh; the

United Abkhazia United Abkhazia ( ab, Аԥсны Акзаара, russian: Единая Абхазия) is a political party in Abkhazia. United Abkhazia was founded on March 25, 2004 as a socio-political movement, with the specific goal of presenting a single opp ...

Aitaira Aitaira ( ab, Аиҭаира; lit. ''Revival'') is a public association in Abkhazia. It is co-chaired by former Prime Minister Leonid Lakerbaia. History Aitaira was originally a socio-political movement in opposition to the Government of Presi ...

and Amtsakhara, whilst the Forum of Abkhaz People’s Unity supported Vice President

Raul Khadjimba Raul Jumkovich Khajimba ( ab, Рауль Џьумка-иҧа Ҳаџьымба, ka, რაულ ჯუმკას-ძე ჰაჯიმბა; born 21 March 1958) is an Abkhazian politician, and served as President of Abkhazia from 25 September ...

Results

Of the 35 elected members, 28 supported President Bagapsh, seven the opposition. 26 were ethnic Abkhaz, three Russian, three Armenian, two Georgian and one Turkish. Voter turnout was 47.25% in the first round.4 МАРТА В АБХАЗИИ СОСТОЯЛИСЬ ВЫБОРЫ ДЕПУТАТОВ ПАРЛАМЕНТА
,

Apsnypress Apsnypress is the ''de facto'' state press agency of Abkhazia. Its stated goals is to assist in development of democracy, sovereignty and independence of the breakaway Abkhaz republic and to ensure the information security thereof. Detailed objec ...

, 5 March 2007

By district

Communist Party nominee Incumbent Backed by pro-presidential parties

Reactions

Neither

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

nor the EU recognised the elections citing a lack of participation by Georgian refugees.

References

Parliamentary elections in Abkhazia

parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...