Abkhazian president’s resignation officially confirmed

Abkhazian President Raul Khajimba’s letter of resignation has been referred to the country’s parliament, as follows from a press statement posted on the official presidential website late on Sunday, TASS reports.

"On January 12, Abkhazian President Raul Khajimba referred a letter of resignation to the National Assembly, or Abkhazia’s parliament," the statement reads.

Khajimba’s resignation is now to be accepted by the parliament.

According to the press statement, Khajimba steps down as president "for the sake of peace and stability in the country."

Khajimba has been Abkhazia’s president since 2014. He was reelected for another office term in September 2019.

A political crisis erupted in Abkhazia on January 9 when protesters broke into the presidential administration building demanding resignation of President Raul Khadjimba. The president convened an emergency meeting of the country’s Security Council and said after it that a state of emergency could be imposed in the country. Abkhazia’s parliament gathered for an extraordinary session on the same day and issued an appeal to the president calling on him to step down.

On Friday, the Abkhazian Supreme Court’s cassation board cancelled the Central Election Commission’s decision on the results of the presidential polls and ruled to call a rerun election. Thus, the court board sustained opposition activist Alkhas Kvitsinia’s appeal against the ruling of the trial court that recognized the results of the presidential runoff election as lawful. The country’s Central Election Commission ruled to call the rerun elections on March 22. Khajimba however said he would challenge both the Central Election Commission’s decision and the court ruling.