Abkhazeti.info: Baghapsh resigns

The de facto Abkhazian President, Sergey Baghapsh has resigned, abkhazeti.info reported on Thursday. The news outlet writes based on unnamed journalists from Sukhumi that Baghapsh has already signed a statement on his resignation. The talks about the de facto President’s successor are already underway in Sukhumi, abkhazeti.info reports. Baghapsh has named first “vise president” Alexandr Ankvab as a candidate, while bigger part of the Abkhazian society supports second “vice president” Raul Khajimba.

Meanwhile, there have been unconfirmed reports that the de facto MPs at the so called Abkhazian Parliament are already conducting consultations on appointing early Presidential Elections, according to abkhazeti.info. Biggest chances for “Presiednship” is with the so called Prime Minister, Sergey Shamba, who is “considered as the most acceptable candidate by Russia and the Western society,” the agency reports.

However, there have been no information issued by the official Abkhazian news agency, apsnypress.info on Baghapsh’s alleged resignation. The agency reports that a 62-year-old Baghaph, who last week underwent a lung surgery, is still under medical care in the hospital. Official Representative of the de facto Abkazian President, Kristian Bzhania told Apsnypress that the de facto leader’s heath conditions have not worsened, as reported by some media outlets.

“In connection with the information disseminated by some media outlets about alleged worsening of the health conditions of the President, I would like to inform you, that the information is false,” Bzhania said “The health conditions of the head of the government in the post-surgery period has not deteriorated, the doctors have not used extra reanimation measures neither yesterday, nor today,” he added.

Baghapsh, who was appointed as a de facto Prime Minister of Abkhazia in 1997, served on this position to 1999. From 2000 until 2004, Baghapsh was the managing director of the Abkhazian state-owned power company Chernomorenergo. Meanwhile, he began to emerge as a likely opposition candidate in the Presidential elections. He was elected as a de facto President of Georgia’s breakaway region in 2005 and re-elected in 2009.