Gali: A Key Test Case for Georgia's Separatist Abkhazia Region

Two days before March 4 parliamentary elections in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia, campaign posters in its predominantly ethnic Georgian district of Gali were few and far between. But, amidst an ongoing campaign by Georgia to reclaim its breakaway regions, scrutiny of the elections in this district has been anything but sparse.

The vote in this district is a sensitive issue for both the separatist leadership of Abkhazia and for the government of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. A high voter turnout here could be presented by supporters of the Abkhaz government as a sign that it is successfully integrating Gali's roughly 30,000 ethnic Georgians into mainstream Abkhaz society, thereby undermining Georgia's claim that its self-declared state does not enjoy broad-based support. By contrast, a low turnout could be cited to demonstrate the population's ongoing loyalty to Georgia.

At a March 4 press conference in the Abkhaz capital of Sokhumi, separatist leader Sergei Bagapsh argued that the elections demonstrated Abkhazia's "firm course towards democracy and developing a legal state." After casting his vote in Sokhumi, Bagapsh headed to Gali, where he termed the situation "complex," but asserted that "people are going to the polls and voting," Russian and state-run Abkhaz news agencies reported.

Abkhaz election officials told EurasiaNet that voting in the district stood at between 30 and 39 percent. Abkhazia's Central Election Commission put general turnout for the breakaway territory at 47.25 percent, the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS reported on March 5. The reports could not be independently verified.

So far, preliminary results are in for only 18 of Abkhazia's 35 parliamentary seats. Repeat votes are expected to be held for the parliament's remaining 17 seats in two weeks' time, election officials said. Reasons for the fresh elections were not given.

In the days leading up to the vote, Georgian television media reported regularly about a "Patriots for Abkhazia" paramilitary group, reportedly based in Gali, which claimed to have burned down 12 buildings in the district that belonged to Georgian "collaborators," and threatened additional reprisals against Georgians who took part in the parliamentary elections in a bid to skewer the vote.

The March 1 arrest of three young male Georgians, reportedly members of a group called New Generation for United Georgia, for an "illegal" border crossing added to the tensions surrounding the elections. In televised remarks to Abkhaz and Russian reporters in Sokhumi, the trio, in their late teens and early 20s, claimed that they had planned to prevent Gali residents from taking part in the parliamentary elections. Their arrest follows the abduction of the ethnic Georgian head of Gali's election commission in early February, and the killing of two police officials in Gali in December 2006.

Abkhaz officials have argued that the Georgian special services stand behind the actions.

"We are doing everything we can to integrate the Gali population into our society," Sergei Shamba, Abkhazia's de facto foreign minister, commented to EurasiaNet. "And this only irritates Georgia, which is afraid of losing these people. That's why they are doing everything they can to destabilize the situation and show that Abkhazia cannot control its territory."

The Georgian government has denied the claim. Georgian media has reported that the Abkhaz leadership itself has exerted pressure on Gali residents to vote, going so far as to use law enforcement agencies to transport voters to the polls in one village.

In interviews with EurasiaNet, however, Gali residents deny both sides' claims.

"The first time we heard about them was on television," said one local woman in reference to arson by Patriots for Abkhazia. "If they had burnt houses down in Gali, we would have known about it."

Ruslan Kishmaria, the official representative to Gali for de facto President Sergei Bagapsh, echoed those denials. "Rumors," commented Kishmaria, adding that he had taken journalists from Georgia's Imedi TV to villages to verify the reports of arson, but without result. "They also say I was cutting off the heads of Georgians and playing football with them."

Leaflets dropped on Gali streets that demanded Georgians stay away from the polls and anonymous threatening phone calls were the extent of the harassment, Kishmaria said.

Locals also claimed no knowledge of pressure to vote from Abkhaz officials, though concede that some people received parcels of oil and flour a week before the elections, packages presumed to be "gifts" from the separatist government in Sokhumi, the Abkhaz capital.

Many Gali residents, however, say that they feel as if they have a foot in both Abkhazia and Georgia. "We have two faces," stated Aleksandra Aleksandrova, an elderly kiosk owner in Gali. "One for the Abkhaz and one for the Georgians. But I'm going to vote; I live in Abkhazia."

Other Gali residents say that they refrained from voting, but not necessarily out of a sense of Georgian patriotism. "A lot of us voted during the [2005] presidential elections and a lot of promises were made, but none were kept," one local non-governmental organization employee, who asked not to be identified, stated. "They (the Abkhaz) treat us like second class citizens. Our human rights aren't respected."

Respect for human rights is a topic increasingly pushed by Tbilisi in its dealings with international organizations and the West about Abkhazia. Similarly, the Georgian government has stated that the region's parliamentary poll is invalid so long as the thousands of Georgians who fled Abkhazia during the region's 1992-1993 war for independence cannot safely return home.

"The elections there are not only illegal, but also immoral," commented Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli in statements broadcast on Georgian television on March 4. Nonetheless, as have other Georgian officials, Noghaideli urged Abkhaz leaders to resume peace talks with Tbilisi, stating that Georgia is ready to negotiate "without preconditions" and "without delay."

Abkhaz officials have refused to return to the negotiating table so long as Georgian troops remain in the Kodori Gorge, a strip of territory in northern Abkhazia held by Georgia that now also houses the pro-Tbilisi Abkhaz government-in-exile. [For details, see the Eurasia Insight archive].