Abkhaz elections to take place in a week

Unfortunately, it looks like the violent scenario of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential elections is likely to repeat in Abkhazia this year: those who don’t feel secure playing by the rules often choose to use dubious competitive techniques. The Ukrainian pattern seems to repeat itself: candidate Y is accused

of working for foreign intelligence services, politicians or oligarchs; or, on the contrary, the unlucky presidential aspirant is praised above all conceivable limits and, in these praises, some ambiguous facts of his biography are ‘accidently’ brought up. In Abkhazia, the “Echo of the Caucasus” internet-media agency is used for such purposes: the agency published an article telling the story of Alexander Ankvab’s political success, a story that is obviously

aimed at ruining his credibility in the eyes of potential voters. The authors of this material carefully compiled already-known facts of Ankvab’s biography to show him as a politician closely connected to the Georgian elite. In this case, the implementation of the above-described technique was so crude that the readers ‘didn’t buy it’, as the following reader’s comment on the article shows: “You’re all good at lying, but this time it’s too much! Half of all Abkhaz citizens have various ties with Georgia, but that doesn’t mean they’re all traitors”.

Well, there’s a bright side to this situation: up-to-date political competition techniques have finally reached Sukhumi. It is sad, however, that Abkhaz politicians are incapable of keeping their promises given in the ‘Free and Fair Elections’ agreement. Just recently, one of Russia's second-rate newspapers claimed that Ankvab helped the Georgians in their attempts to retake Sukhumi. A day after that, an offhand ‘documentary’ covering the same topic appeared in Abkhazia, triggering a violent reaction among Abkhaz young and not-so-experienced people. There were only a few of those who didn’t fail to notice that the documentary was presented by Tenguiz Kitovani, who under no circumstances could be called an independent expert: discord and hostility among the young state’s political elite is in his best interests.

So what’s the ultimate goal of all these black-PR activities? Most likely, they are being ordered to addle Abkhaz voters, exploiting their negative attitude towards everything Georgia-connected. This aversion is being artificially connected, with Ankvab thus making people vote for his main rival. Unlike the above-mentioned papers we won’t make ungrounded accusations and get personal: Abkhaz voters are perfectly capable of thinking for themselves. Actions orchestrated by one candidate to blacken other’s reputation often have the opposite effect, as the 2004 Abkhaz elections have already demonstrated. Back then, Sergey Bagapsh was accused of all kinds of sins, including being a pro-Georgian politician, but the voters managed to look beyond this propaganda and make the right choice.

Alexei Vlasov to 'Moskovskiy Komsomolets'