SUKHUMI, Georgia — Abkhazia held a presidential election Saturday that pitted Russia against Georgia as each tried to shape the political course of the separatist Georgian region.
Hundreds lined up at polling stations throughout the small, subtropical province on the Black Sea coast to vote for the first time since Moscow recognized its independence in the wake of Russia's war with Georgia in August 2008.
The vote ended at 1700 GMT (12 p.m. EST). About two thirds of around 130,000 registered voters cast their ballots, election official Batal Tabagua told journalists. Preliminary results were expected to be announced Sunday.
Each voter had his passport stamped to avoid fraud and multiple voting. Their vote will test the ties that NATO re-established with Russia last week. Political ties between the Cold War foes had been severed for more than a year after Russia recognized Abkhazia and another breakaway Georgian region, South Ossetia.
The province is home to some 40,000 ethnic Georgians who are not eligible to vote because they don’t hold Abkhazian passports.
The Abkhazians voted for a leader whose main tasks will be to shape relations with Russia and develop a functioning economy and bureaucracy, all while fighting claims against his legitimacy made by Georgia and much of the international community.
In addition to Russia, only Nicaragua and Venezuela have recognized Abkhazia’s independence.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili’s spokeswoman condemned the vote as a Kremlin-orchestrated farce and called Abkhazia an "occupied territory." Georgia has claimed that Russia is seeking to annex Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Although the fighting in last year’s war was focused on South Ossetia, Abkhaz forces with help from the Russian military succeeded in pushing Georgian troops out of the last bit of territory they held in Abkhazia.
Abkhazia’s incumbent president, Sergei Bagapsh, who is the front-runner in Saturday’s election, has since used financial and diplomatic support from Russia to shore up the region’s claim to independence.
But his four challengers have significant backing, and their campaigns are likely to push the election into a runoff vote to decide the winner. All the five presidential hopefuls are opposed to reunification with Georgia and hail closer ties with Russia.
Three opposition candidates decried multiple violations throughout the province saying the number of voters in several districts surpassed the number of registered residents.
"These violations may result in serious tensions," one of the opposition candidates, former Vice President Raul Khadzhimba, told journalists.
Russia’s representative in Abkhazia, Semyon Grigoryev, pointed to the deep bond Russia and Abkhazia share, while insisting that Russia was not supporting any one candidate.
At a meeting in Brussels on Dec. 4, NATO and Russia resumed their political dialogue, which NATO had broken off after the war in Georgia. The two sides agreed to move forward on cooperation in Afghanistan and other security issues.
