Top 5 most anticipated events of 2022 in Abkhazia

Top five events in Abkhazia in 2022

Abkhazia has entered 2022 with all the unresolved problems of the past year. While pandemic remains a global problem, Abkhazia’s continued rolling blackouts are not very common in the region of South Caucasus.

What is Abkhazia anticipating in 2022? JAMnews Sukhumi correspondent Eleonora Giloyan talks about five most expected events of the current year.

Parliamentary elections

President Aslan Bzhania signed a decree on holding next parliamentary elections on March 12, 2022 in December last year.

Thus, he put an end to many rumors that the elections would be postponed and the work of the current convocation extended. Such conversations went mainly held among the acting deputies.

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However, it was they who, after the appointed date, asked to postpone the elections citing the Covid-19 pandemic, deteriorating epidemiological situation, and the inability to conduct a full-fledged election campaign under the existing restrictions. Elections haven’t been postponed, but some of the restrictions were lifted (as many believe, precisely because of the upcoming parliamentary elections).

Cultural institutions were allowed to work, and, it just so happens that it is in the district Houses of Culture where most meetings with voters take place. However, it might just be a coincidence.

In total, at the time of writing this article, 118 initiative groups for nominating candidates and five political parties have been registered. There are currently 125 applicants for 35 constituencies.

The last parliamentary elections were also held on March 12, 2017. Then there were 139 candidates.

If we compare the lists of five years ago and the current ones, we can see a lot of repeating names. These are mainly those who did not manage to get into parliament last time, but are again trying once again today. This time there are 17 women on the lists.

Among the deputies of this convocation, 18 people are running again. Accordingly, 17 decided not to fight for the mandate anymore.

While the election race itself has not yet started, the candidates, following the initiative groups, are already going through the registration process. They bring relevant certificates from psychiatric and narcological hospitals, proving that they are not – and never have been – their patients, as well as documents confirming the absence of outstanding convictions.

At the moment, two candidates are under investigation – one is under house arrest in the case of mass riots on December 21, and the other in one of the corruption cases. The law does not prohibit them from running in the elections.

Despite the fact that the election campaign and agitation are still ahead, the residents of Abkhazia are already noticing the work that has begun to improve the infrastructure of their districts – pits are being patched up, poles and transformers are being replaced. In this regard, the 2022 race is unlikely to be fundamentally different from all the previous ones, and the main intrigue will still remain – who will be able to “work” better – the authorities or the opposition.

Energy crisis

In Abkhazia, electricity is more oftern off then on. The authorities, as always, have many reasons and explanations for this – [crypto] miners, non-payers, and, of course, the low water level in the Jvari reservoir.

Everyone knows why there is no light in the republic, but in 2022, the inhabitants of Abkhazia are waiting for an answer to another question – what can be done about it?

At the time of writing, several rolling outage schedules operate in parallel in the republic at once. It should be noted that the information issued by the Chernomorenergo energy company is unique in its inaccessibility to the population. People are offered to study the country’s power grids and know exactly who has which substation and which feeder. In general, you shouldn’t bother too much – the schedule is rarely followed and it is no use trying to adjust your life to it.

By the way, two former heads of Chernomorenergo are trying to get into parliament at once. Perhaps the ex-chief power engineers want to use this opportunity to present their proposals to resolve the crisis.

Covid-19 pandemic

The Omicron strain came to Abkhazia quite late. Nevertheless, by mid-January, the number of cases per day exceeded all anti-records, with an average of 500-700 cases being resigestered daily.

Abkhazian doctors, as well as their foreign colleagues, say that the course of the disease is easier with Omicron, but the new strain is way more contagious then its predecessors. So much so, that the main PCR testing laboratory even had to be closed for some time – there was simply no one to take tests, as all of its staff got sick with the new strain.

Abkhazians are pretty tired of the pandemic and are waiting for its logical conclusion. But it should be noted that the conscious observance of any security measures has barely ever been in place. People held weddings during then spread of the Wuhan, Delta and Omicron strains.

The healthcare system operates based on the dedication of doctors and luck. I think that if someone in Abkhazia were presenting the “Person of the Year” award, then, without a doubt, it would be given to the chief doctors of the capital’s infectious diseases hospital, the Gudauta hospital and a number of other doctors from the “red zone”.

Roads

Residents of Sukhum are looking forward to the promised asphalt laying on several central streets.

All of them suffered during repair work on water supply back in 2020. However, some of them have left much to be desired. However, now the central roads of Sukhum look as deplorable they could possibly be.

The terms by which the repair will be completed were called,in our memory, three to five times, and not a single time it coincided with the sad reality.

The intersections of streets with a road of republican significance were asphalted, but so badly that the contractor was forced not to accept the job they have done.

Dzhonua, Gulia and Abazinskaya streets in Sukhum are being restored at the expense of the investment program to promote the socio-economic development of Abkhazia for 2020-2022.

The length of Gulia street is 1,200 meters, Abazinskaya street is 686 meters, Dzhonua street is 1,350 meters.

Corruption cases

The Prosecutor General’s Office launched cases into various episodes of corruption in the Ministry of Repatriation, the state company Abkhaztop, the Republican Cancer Center, and the Republican Hospital.

Only one of the cases, the sick leave case, was submitted to the court. The measure of restraint for most of the defendants was either not chosen at all or was chosen in the form of house arrest.

Nevertheless, in 2022, all of them, one way or another, should receive some kind of development, and, perhaps, even a logical conclusion. In any case, by these cases, the long-promised fight against corruption will be judged.

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