Parliamentary elections in Abkhazia: parties and their possibilities

On February 9, 2012 the Central election committee of the Republic of Abkhazia announced the list of the registered candidates. Elections are appointed on March 10. The second round will pass two weeks later. Judging by the number of candidates and their distribution on the districts, the second round is expected not less than in a half of 35 districts. And 148 people apply for only 35 deputy places.

The elections in Abkhazia pass on majoritarian system. It means that though the party lists exist, but can only facilitate the promotion to activists of parties. By law, each party can nominate only 11 people (it is slightly less than a third of the Deputy corps). Other candidates should collect not less than 200 and no more than 250 signatures (in that district where the applicant for the deputy mandate is going to stand). As a rule, the petition already represents the first stage of propaganda. However, the Central Election Committee eliminates some candidates, but only insignificant part.

The majoritarian system assumes that though the candidates specify to what party they belong in the propaganda materials, but by and large, work with electorate in each district separately, without strongly pronounced the mutual aid. According to the Abkhazian political tradition, any self-respecting politician should be able to win independently the voices of inhabitants of this or that district, to prove to be the serious, authoritative politician. Success on elections is first of all a merit of the individual, instead of his party.

Many Abkhazian public figures speak about need of transition to proportional system, on creation of the high-grade fractions in the republic formed on party lists. But the old system still has many pluses. The contact between the people's deputy and inhabitants of this or that village is very important for the small republic with the population in a quarter of one million people. Even if the inhabitant of the capital Sukhumi stands in deputies in rural areas, so in this case he should have here the related communications, at least to be known to the locals.

The elections on majoritarian system can lead to that the leader of this or that party can’t pass in parliament whereas not the most influential members of this party win and become the deputies somewhere on suburbs. Owing to that the alignment of forces in the party can exchange.

What political forces take part in elections? There are a lot of parties in Abkhazia, but only three-four are in the center of political life constantly. “Unified Abkhazia” (party of officials) and “Amtsakhara” (“Tribal fires”, party of veterans of war with Georgia) were traditionally carried to the supporters of the president (at first Sergey Bagapsh, now Alexander Ankvab, successor of his political line). Both of them were created not “under the leader”; “Unified Abkhazia” arosed as oppositional in general, has risen after a victory of one of her cochairmen Sergey Bagapsh in 2004. The today's leader of “Unified Abkhazia”, Daur Tarba, already was both the deputy of parliament, and the Deputy Prime Minister of the government; he was nominated in parliament on these elections too.

The opposition is united by the Forum of the National Unity (FNU) based in 2005. It is mainly Raul Hadzhimba's adherents whom “party in power” intended to make the successor on elections of 2004, but unsuccessfully. Since then FNU unites the people who have lost the power seven and a half years ago and still not reconciled with defeat.

In effect, FNU is a coalition of a number of small parties, which united together to fight against the government after Raul Hadzhimba's defeat. Hadzhimba heads this oppositional group for a long time, however it never achieved more or less considerable success on elections (municipal, parliamentary, presidential). Among the supporters of Hamzhimba there are many known, talented politicians, but in the whole FNU nevertheless concedes to pro-governmental parties on popularity among the population.

In January, 2012, the activists of FNU founded the new structure – the all-civil union “Apsadgil” (“Homeland”). However this design doesn't represent something new in itself – most likely, it is created in order that the new tactical allies could join in its framework on the eve of elections to FNU, who have not entered the party.

One more strong organization is ERA or the Party of economic development, the most non-standard phenomenon to measures of the Republic of Abkhazia. It is the party of the businessman Beslan Butba who has created the alternative television first in the republic, took under protection a little printing and Internet editions, and carries actively out the own political line in recent years.

Butba calls himself as the centrist and he is in point of fact: the ERA party doesn't enter the close union with opposition in fact though Butba supported the main rival of Ankvab Sergey Shamba on presidential election of 2011. Now, neither Shamba nor Butba don't stand for parliament, but the ERA party nominated the candidates in all regions of Abkhazia. If they are possible to achieve the success, even the fraction of 3-4 persons can play a larger role, considering the modest sizes of the Abkhazian parliament.

There are other political forces: first of all the organization of war veterans “Aruaa” (“Soldiers”), being in opposition to the government – they are less, than in “Amtsakhara” and not all are in the close union with FNU. The communist party remained only as the organizational structure and it still participates in policy and even nominates candidates, but in fact doesn't play the appreciable role. The national party is known mainly thanks to the leader Yakub Lakoba who intends to throw down a challenge to the leader of “Unified Abkhazia” Daur Tarba in one of the central Sukhumi districts. Thus, the political range is very various and fight will be quite intense.