Parliamentary elections in the former Georgian republic of Abkhazia were illegitimate, the monitoring co-rapporteurs for Georgia of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) said on Monday.
"The so-called parliamentary elections in Abkhazia, as well as the so-called presidential election that will take place on March 25, 2012 in Tskhinvali, cannot be recognised as legitimate,” rapporteurs Michael Aastrup Jensen of Denmark and Kastriot Islami of Albania said in a statement.
“The unilateral declaration of independence of the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia is illegitimate under international law and therefore no legal or constitutional basis for these elections exists," the statement reads.
The March 10 parliamentary elections in Abkhazia were monitored by 46 international observers from nine states. They said the vote was in strict compliance with the republic’s legislation and international norms.
Abkhazia is recognized as a sovereign state by Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Nauru and the Polynesian island nation of Tuvalu.
