Abkhazia parliament asks president to resign
29 May 2014, 21:58 -- The parliament of Abkhazia has adopted a resolution on Thursday asking the Abkhaz President Alexander Ankvab to resignation voluntarily, ITAR-TASS reports. The parliament also passed a vote of non-confidence in Prime Minister Leonid Lakerbaia. Both motions, that were approved by 20 out of 21 lawmakers who were present at the session, came into force immediately after the vote.
Abkhaz opposition passes memorandum demanding reforms, 'unconditional legal order'
Participants in indefinite opposition rallies outside the Abkhaz presidential administration passed a memorandum on Thursday, an Interfax correspondent reported. The document proclaimed the main tasks of the Abkhaz opposition forces; 'building a stable and developed state' and drastic reforms are necessary to do this, the document said.
'Reforms will apply firstly to the political system and elections. The president's power should be limited by law and should be distributed between branches more evenly.
Only competition for voters will make our system viable and efficient,' the memorandum said. At the same time, the 'activities of officials will be open and public and their income and expenses will be reported by media outlets,' the document said.
'Abkhazia should become a territory of law, it is necessary to achieve unconditional legal order in the country and we have every opportunity for this,' the memorandum said. 'The country can not keep on drifting, leaning on grants from friendly Russia, this is a path to nowhere. That is why the concept of Abkhazia's development will be drafted and passed as quickly as possible. It will be based on a detailed analysis of our resources and the development tendencies of the Black Sea regions,' it said.
After rally participants unanimously supported passing the memorandum, opposition leaders asked protestors to sign the document.
Abkhazia's parliament to consider president's resignation at session — opposition leader
Abkhazia's parliament will meet in session at 09.00 pm Moscow time on Thursday to consider the possibility of President Alexander Ankvab's resignation, the leader of the opposition, member of Abkhazia's People's Assembly, Raul Khadzhimba said.
'We do hope that all necessary decisions for the republic will be made at the parliament's session,' he said.
Originally the session was to be held earlier on Thursday, 'but the legislators supporting the authorities failed to show up.'
Abkhazia is tasked with preventing violence and returning the situation to the constitutional framework, Lakerbaya said. 'We see the situation from the point of view of concessions,' he said. 'We must do our utmost to prevent bloodshed, to banish even the slightest risk of it happening.'
At the same time, he said, the president is an elected official and he occupies the post for the term stipulated by the law. 'The most important task is to return to the constitutional framework, and that's what we are working on,' Lakerbaya said.
Along with this, the authorities are obliged to deter those who 'are dissatisfied with the state of affairs and are ready to regain control over the administrative buildings and the television center in the same way as they were seized,' he said.
Earlier on Thursday, the prime minister said that the government might step down to appease opposition. 'It is not a sacrifice, as Abkhazia's welfare is the top priority,' Lakerbaya said.
Abkhaz premier not ruling out gov't resignation demanded by opposition
Abkhaz Prime Minister Leonid Lakerbaya has not ruled out that his government might resign as a concession to the opposition, Interfax reports. 'I told the opposition that I am ready for resignation in order to prevent excesses, no public office is worth a drop of blood. We are ready for compromises and have already reported our decision to the mediators,' Lakerbaya told journalists on Thursday.
'The authorities said they would accept the government's resignation in order to bring everything back into the legitimate field, to restore law and order, but the opposition too should seek a dialogue with us,' the premier said.
'The conflict between the opposition and the authorities should now be brought back into the constitutional field. For this purpose, Russian mediators Vladislav Surkov and Rashid Nurgaliyev are now in Abkhazia holding talks with the president and his opponents.
'There is a field of common interest. The most important thing in this situation is to make sure no one is hurt, no human casualties in this conflict,' the premier said.
Abkhaz opposition demands president to step down
The opposition demanded that the Abkhaz president step down after the authorities had ignored its demand to dismiss the government and the prosecutor general, opposition co-leader Raul Khadzhimba said. 'We suggested a possibility to dismiss the government and the prosecutor general, but our demands were not taken into consideration. The president categorically refused to hear us,' Khadzhimba told Interfax on Wednesday.
'Now there is a question of the resignation of the president himself. And this question was conveyed to the authorities by [Russian presidential aide Vladislav] Surkov,' he added. As to on what conditions the opposition is ready to start a dialogue with the authorities, Khadzhimba said, 'It will be possible to negotiate if the negotiations concern steps towards the [resignation]. And if the sole purpose of negotiations is to talk and drag them out, they will be senseless.'
Every issue pertaining to a possible early election will be resolved in the dialogue between the parties to the conflict, he noted.
Source: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_05_29 /Abkhazia-parliament-asks-president-to-resign-4784/
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