SUKHUM (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th August, 2019) The incumbent president of Abkhazia, Raul Khadzhimba, defense minister's aide Oleg Arshba and opposition leader Alkhas Kvitsiniya are getting about a quarter of votes each in a closely contested presidential election, according to the first data of the republic's central election commission.
With data from 150 of 154 voting locations counted, Khadzhimba is leading with 26.6 percent, Arshba is gaining 24.9 percent, Kvitsiniya is third with 24.6 percent.
If none of the candidates gets more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff will be held within two weeks.
Nine candidates are running for the presidential post in Abkhazia, which has a population of around 240,000. According to Tamaz Gogia, the chairman of the republic's central election commission, there were 67 international observers and 79 journalists monitoring the election. Earlier on Sunday, Gogia said the voter turnout had topped 50 percent, which makes the election's results valid.
While being a part of Georgia, Abkhazia suffered from ethnic tensions between Abkhaz and Georgian populations, resulting in the 1992-1993 war. The conflict ended with Abkhazia being a de facto independent country. In August 2008, Abkhazia and Russia fend off an attack by the Georgian military leading to the official founding of self-governing Abkhaz nation. It still remains unrecognized by the majority of world's nations, with the exception of Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru and Syria.
