2011 Abkhazian presidential election
A presidential election was held in the Republic of Abkhazia on 26 August 2011. This was the fifth such election since the post of President of the Republic of Abkhazia was created in 1994. The election was held to elect the successor of president Sergei Bagapsh who died in office on 29 May 2011.
Background
The election was originally scheduled to take place in 2014, five years after the previous election; however, the Constitution of Abkhazia required an election to be held within three months after the unexpected death of incumbent president Sergei Bagapsh on 29 May. On 8 June the People's Assembly set the election date for 26 August. The MPs decided against earlier dates such as 20 August, which is immediately after the summer holidays, as the election is largely organised by teachers and to allow for repairs to school buildings to be completed, where many polling stations are located.Requirements and registration procedure
According to the Law on the Election of the President of the Republic of Abkhazia, candidates for the Presidency have to:- possess Abkhazian citizenship;
- be of Abkhaz ethnicity;
- be fluent in the Abkhaz language;
- be no younger than 35 and no older than 65 years of age;
- be eligible to vote;
- have permanently lived in Abkhazia for the last five years up to the election day.
Candidates
All three candidates who were nominated for the election successfully completed their registration: Acting President Alexander Ankvab, Prime Minister Sergei Shamba and opposition leader Raul Khajimba. Following their nomination, Shamba and his vice presidential candidate, Shamil Adzynba, as well as Khajimba and his running mate Svetlana Jergenia applied for registration on 16 July. Ankvab and his vice presidential candidate Mikhail Logua filed their application on 17 July. The three presidential candidates passed their Abkhaz language test on 20 July 2011. All candidates were registered by the CEC on 25 July and received their certificates on 26 July.| Presidential candidate | Career | Vice presidential candidate | Career | Political support |
| ||||
| Raul Khajimba | Svetlana Jergenia | |||
| Alexander Ankvab | Mikhail Logua | |||
| Sergei Shamba | Shamil Adzynba |
Election campaign
The election campaign official began when the candidates received their registration certificates on 26 July. According to election law, Alexander Ankvab and Sergei Shamba had to take leave from their offices. Correspondingly, Parliament Speaker Nugzar Ashuba temporarily took over as Acting President and Vice-Premier Beslan Kubrava as Prime Minister.On 19 July, the League of Voters "For Fair Elections" held its first press conference to announce that it would monitor the upcoming election as in previous years.
Shamba's campaign was led by Beslan Eshba.
Media use
TV broadcasts
Each presidential candidate received three hours of free air time on national state television in the four weeks running up to election day, and each Vice Presential candidate one hour. During the first week, candidates had the choice between an hour of live interaction with voters and sending in a pre-recorded DVD. In the second week, the candidates, alone or assisted by no more than four associates, received one hour of live interaction with voters. In the third and fourth weeks, first the vice-presidential candidate and then the presidential candidates had the opportunity to answer alternatingly questions from voters and from officially registered media.Apart from these broadcasts, each candidate could send in commercials up to five minutes, which were broadcast on weekdays between 1 and 25 August, three times daily.
The order in which the broadcasts of candidates appeared was determined by draw, and was as follows:
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Order of commercials | |
| Week 1 | Khajimba | Shamba | Ankvab | Khajimba – Ankvab – Shamba | ||
| Week 2 | Khajimba | Shamba | Ankvab | Khajimba – Shamba – Ankvab | ||
| Week 3 | Logua | Jergenia | Adzynba | Ankvab – Khajimba – Shamba | ||
| Week 4 | Shamba | Khajimba | Ankvab | Ankvab – Shamba – Khajimba |
Election
The CEC decided that in order to reduce costs and simplify the organisation of the election, there would be no separate polling stations and precinct election commissions for military units. Instead, it sent a letter to the Ministry of Defence requesting that soldiers should receive leave ten days before the election, allowing them to collect absentee ballots and thus vote in a polling station of their choosing.Results
According to the Abkhazian electoral commission, preliminary results showed a 54.86% first round victory for Ankvab over Shamba and Khajimba.The official results, released on 27 August, showed only small differences, and Alexander Ankvab was elected with 54.90% of the vote. He is to be sworn in on 26 September.
Opinion polling
| Date | Source | Sergei Shamba | Alexander Ankvab | Raul Khajimba |
| 5–12 July 2011 | Dobrososedstvo | 30.1% | 26.1% | 8.0% |