Abkhazians vote for Putin’s party, too

Sukhum/Agency Caucasus – The Abkhazia leg of the elections of Duma, or lower chamber of Russian parliament, yielded a large proportion of electoral support for the United Russia, the party of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. 

Abkhazia was one of the countries where the elections of Duma were held, because as much as 80 percent of the Abkhazians hold a Russian passport. Out of the total number of electors, 45,109 cast their votes, according to Batal Tabagua, Head of the Central Abkhazian Commission on Elections. Of the entire votes, 38,610 (86 percent) went to the United Russia, 1958 (4,3 percent) to the pro-Kremlin Fair Russia, 1712 (3,8 percent) to the extremely nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, 1510 (3,3 percent) to the Communist Party and the remaining three percent to other parties. The voting took place in Sukhum, Gagra and Gudauta on December 2, in other places on November 28-30. The Abkhazian Commission on Elections provided the Russian Commission on Elections only with technical support in the elections. It was not part of the counting of votes. 

‘A debt of gratitude’

"The Abkhazians owe a debt of gratitude to Russia and the Russians," Tabaguba remarked, "because the Russians were with the Abkhazians when they were in trouble; and the nation’s people showed their solidarity through their active participation in the elections." When asked about Georgia’s reaction to the elections in Abkhazia, Tabagua said that it did not have any significance whatsoever for them. 

Why did the United Russia win?

Vladimir Dopua, a voter, put the reason behind the United Russia’s victory as stemming from the abundance of things in common between Russia and Abkhazia. "Russia is a neighbour to Abkhazia and is not indifferent to what is going on in here. Russia was and is still with Abkhazia after it fought Georgia. And it will probably continue like this, I guess." Eteri Katsiya, another voter, said that voting in favour of the existing course of events in Russia was necessary to avoid possible future repercussions after the elections.

Nikolai Yenik put the rationale behind his voting for the United Russia in these words: "Both Putin and his team created a change in the lives of Russian in a period of eight years’ time. Plus, Russia helped Abkhazia a lot. There also emerged a good manner of official conduct between Abkhazia and Russia. All in all, there was not another alternative available to us." KU/ÖZ/FT