EU does not recognize presidential elections in Abkhazia

(BRUSSELS2) The election of a new president, Alexander Ankvab, in Abkhazia has forced the European Union to react through the voice of the spokesperson for Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the EU. " The EU recalls (as well as does not recognize the legal and constitutional framework in which these elections took place (and) reiterates its support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia as recognized by international law ". It also affirms its full confidence in the Geneva process of international discussions to " ensuring stability and security in the region ».

Ankvab is a party dignitary. Born in 1952, member of the Komsomol (Communist youth), he became Minister of Justice at the age of 23 (from 1975 to 1981) of the Autonomous Republic of Abhazia (in the USSR), member of the central committee of the Georgian Communist Party, in 1984 he became Georgian Deputy Minister of the Interior (until 1990) the Prime Minister of this dissident republic of Georgia. Since 2005, he has escaped several assassination attempts (there have been 4 so far) whose perpetrators are not clearly defined. Since the death of the president, Sergei Bagapsh, at the end of last May, he served as interim president.