Presidential elections were held in Abkhazia on 3 October 2004, the first that were competitive. Election law prohibited incumbent President Vladislav Ardzinba from running for a third term and he instead backed Prime Minister Raul Khadjimba, who also enjoyed support from the Russian authorities. Khadjimba's main opponent was Sergei Bagapsh, who was supported by the two major opposition parties, United Abkhazia and Amtsakhara, and later also by Aitaira when their candidate Alexander Ankvab was barred from running in a controversial decision by the Central Election Commission.
Bagapsh won in the first round with just over 50% of the vote. However, the results of the elections were heavily contested, with Khadjimba claiming that he had received the most votes and that a run-off was necessary. The Central Election Commission issued several conflicting rulings and the stand-off lasted for two months until on 5 December, Bagapsh and Khadjimba agreed to share power as President and Vice President respectively.
Background On 14 July, during a session to which also Vice President Valery Arshba, Prime Minister Raul Khajimba, the cabinet and the general public were invited, the Parliament set the date for the elections to be 3 October 2004.
At the time of the elections, the Republican Party "Apsny" was the main pro-governmental party, and there were four active opposition movements, Aitaira, United Abkhazia, Amtsakhara and the People's Party.
Candidates Prospective candidates had to be nominated by an interest group, a socio-political group or a political party between 4 and 23 August 2004. The nominees then had time until 18:00 local time on 23 August to register their candidacy with the Central Election Commission by submitting the required papers, and at least 2000 (but not more than 2500) signatures supporting their candidacy. In order for their candidacy to be accepted, nominees had to pass an Abkhaz language test, and to satisfy a residency requirement – they had to have lived in Abkhazia for the last 5 years before the election date.
A total of nine people were nominated, of which seven registered their candidacy. On 2 September the Central Election Commission announced that the registration of six candidates had been approved., but 3 September one candidate withdrew. The five candidates that participated in the elections are, in order of nomination:
Anri Jergenia, former Prime Minister, with Ruslan Kishmaria as running mate. Jergenia was nominated by an initiative group on 4 August. Papers required for the registration of his candidacy were submitted 23 August, and on the same day, he passed the Abkhaz language test.
Raul Khadjimba, Prime Minister and former Minister of Defence, with Vitali Smyr as running mate. Khajimba was nominated on 5 August by an initiative group. On 10 August, the Republican Party "Apsny" also nominated Khadjimba, and on 12 August Khadjimba was nominated by two more initiative groups. Papers required for the registration of Khadjimba's candidacy were submitted 19 August. Khadjimba passed his Abkhaz language test on 20 August.
Sergei Bagapsh, head of Chernomorenergo and former Prime Minister, with Stanislav Lakoba as running mate. Bagapsh was nominated on 5 August by the socio-political organisations United Abkhazia and Amtsakhara and he later also received the support of Aitaira and the Federation of Independent Trade Unions. Papers required for the registration of Bagapsh's candidacy were submitted 21 August. On 23 August, Bagapsh passed the Abkhaz language test and United Abkhazia and Amtsakhara submitted the required papers for his registration.
Sergei Shamba, former Minister for Foreign Affairs, with Vladimir Arshba as running mate. Shamba was registered on 6 August by an initiative group. Papers required for the registration of Shamba's candidacy were submitted 19 August. Shamba passed his Abkhaz language test on 20 August.
Iakub Lakoba, head of the People's Party of Abkhazia, with Fatima Kvitsinia as running mate. Lakoba was first nominated on 12 August by an initiative group, and then on 18 August also by the People's Party of Abkhazia. Papers required for the registration of Lakoba's candidacy were submitted 23 August, and he passed the language test on the same day.
There was one candidate whose registration was accepted but who decided not to run anyway:
Valery Arshba, Vice President, with Vice Speaker of the People's Assembly Alexander Stranichkin as running mate. He was nominated by one initiative group. Papers required for the registration of Arshba's candidacy were submitted 23 August, and he passed his language test on the same day. On 3 September Valery Arshba announced that he was withdrawing from the elections.
There was one nominee whose registration was not accepted:
Alexander Ankvab, businessman in Moscow, and former Minister for Internal Affairs. He was nominated by an initiative group on 4 August. On 7 August the socio-political organisation Aitaira unanimously decided to support Ankvab's candidacy. Papers required for the registration of Ankvab's candidacy were submitted 23 August, but he refused to take the language test. On 2 September the Central Election Commission announced that it did not accept Ankvab's candidacy because his proficiency in the Abkhaz language could not be established.
There were two nominees who did not register their candidacy:
Nodar Khashba, official in the Russian Ministry for Emergencies and former Mayor of Sukhumi. He was nominated by an initiative group on 12 August. On 23 August, Nodar Khashba stated that he had not registered his candidacy because he did not intend to run for President – he had been nominated without being consulted on the matter. Khashba also added that his registration would not stand a chance of being accepted because he failed the residency requirement.
Anatoly Otyrba, businessman in Russia. He failed to collect enough signatures and there was slim chance of his candidacy being accepted since he also failed the residency requirement.
Raul Khajimba, government candidate Outgoing president Vladislav Ardzinba was by law prohibited from running for a third term, and his health would not have allowed him to either. Instead, the government's candidate for the presidential election was outgoing Prime Minister Khajimba. On 18 August, Ardzinba said in an interview with Respublika Abkhazia that Khajimba was the person most qualified to succeed him, and he appealed to all voters to vote for him. Khajimba also received the support of the Russian authorities. Russian President Vladimir Putin had worked for the KGB like Khajimba, and posters of the two together were hanging everywhere in Sukhumi. Deputies of Russia's parliament and Russian singers, led by Joseph Kobzon, both a deputy and a popular songster, came to Abkhazia campaigning for Khajimba.
On 11 August, the Republican Party "Apsny", which supported Khadjimba's nomination, issued a statement in which it warned that Georgia might try to influence the elections.
United Abkhazia and Amtsakhara unite to nominate Sergei Bagapsh United Abkhazia planned to present former Prime Minister Sergei Bagapsh and former Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergei Shamba as presidential and vice presidential candidates, with the order still to be determined, and former mayor of Sukhumi Nodar Khashba was to become prime minister. At the same time, there were some in Amtsakhara who wanted to field former Prime Minister Anri Jergenia as presidential candidate. However, United Abkhazia and Amtsakhara then decided to enter into a political alliance. In an interview with the newspaper Amtsakhara in July, Sergei Bagapsh said that the murder of Garri Aiba had been one of the factors that brought them together. On 20 June, United Abkhazia and Amtsakhara announced that Sergei Bagapsh would be their presidential candidate, and Stanislav Lakoba their vice presidential candidate.
Shamba and Jergenia, who had thus lost out, both decided to run for President independently. Nodar Khashba was also nominated by an initiative group, but he did not register his candidacy, stating that he had been nominated without being consulted and that his registration would not stand a chance as he failed the five-year residency requirement.
Exclusion of Alexander Ankvab The presidential candidate for Aitaira was former Minister for Internal Affairs Alexander Ankvab. Ankvab refused to undergo the written Abkhaz language test mandated by law, on the grounds that the constitution did not provide for this.
On 28 August, head of State Security Service Mikhail Tarba said that Aitaira chairman Leonid Lakerbaia had breached the law by calling for an overthrow of power if necessary. In turn, Lakerbaia denied having made the statement and declared that he would initiate a defamation action against Tarba.
On 2 September, the central election commission announced that it rejected the registration of Aitaira's candidate Alexander Ankvab on the grounds that he had not lived the whole past five years in Abkhazia and that his proficiency in the Abkhaz language could not be established completely. On 3 September Aitaira petitioned the Central Election Commission to reverse this decision, and it appealed the Supreme Court to overrule the Central Election Commission. It contested that Ankvab was perfectly fluent in Abkhaz, but that the written language test contravened the constitution. Furthermore, Aitaira put forward that Ankvab had indeed resided in Abkhazia during the last five years, as demonstrated by Abkhazian documents and witnesses, but that the CEC had ignored these basing its decision solely on Russian documents showing that Ankvab also paid taxes there.
On 9 September, Aitaira convened an extraordinary congress to discuss the matter, where it was suggested the party might support Sergei Bagapsh should the Supreme Court not rule in its favour. Among the guests who addressed the congress were Sergei Bagapsh, acting Prime Minister Astamur Tarba, chairman of the Central Election Commission Sergei Smyr and Chairman of the Language Commission Aleksei Kaslandzia.
On 10 September The Supreme Court upheld the Central Election Commission's decision to bar Alexander Ankvab from the presidential elections. The court agreed with Ankvab and Aitaira that the CEC had failed to demonstrate that Ankvab had failed the residence requirements, but it also ruled that the CEC had been right to exclude Ankvab on the grounds that he had not taken the written language test. Even if this test went against the constitution, the law being the law Ankvab should have complied with it.
During the proceedings, Chairman of the Language Commission Aleksei Kaslandzia testified that Ankvab did in fact have an excellent command of Abkhaz. He had spoken with the Commission's members in Abkhaz for 2 hours and 5 minutes, where just over half an hour is normal. He had not read the provided reading material, but had at one point started to read from and discuss the newspaper Respublika Abkhazia, which Kaslandzia judged to be of a far higher difficulty.
In fact, the initial protocol prepared by the Language Commission had stated that Ankvab's command of the Abkhaz language was excellent, but this protocol had mysteriously disappeared. Chairman of the CEC, Sergei Smyr had then insisted that the second draft of the protocol should state that Ankvab's proficiency could not be established, because he had not been fully tested. Language Commission chairman Aleksei Kaslandzia testified that Smyr had gone so far as to threaten him with litigation should he not comply.