Sergei Bagapsh
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| Sergei Bagapsh Сергеи Багаҧшь Сергей Багапш |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office February 12, 2005 |
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| Vice President | Raul Нadjimba |
| Preceded by | Vladislav Ardzinba |
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| In office April 29, 1997 – December, 1999 |
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| President | Vladislav Ardzinba |
| Preceded by | Gennady Gagulia |
| Succeeded by | Vyacheslav Tsugba |
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| Born | March 4, 1949 Sukhumi, Abkhazian ASSR, Georgian SSR, USSR |
| Nationality | Abkhaz |
| Political party | United Abkhazia |
| Spouse | Marina Shonia |
| Signature |  |
| Abkhazia |
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This article is part of the series: |
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See also: Politics of Georgia |
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Other countries · Atlas Politics Portal |
Sergei Vasilyevich Bagapsh (Abkhaz: Сергеи Уасыл-иҧа Багаҧшь) (born March 4, 1949, Sukhumi) is the President of the unrecognized de facto independent Republic of Abkhazia, which is recognized internationally as de jure part of Georgia. A former Prime Minister from 1997 to 1999, he was elected as President in 2005.
Before being appointed as Prime Minister, Bagapsh had been a businessman, a former first secretary of the Abkhaz Komsomol and a permanent representative of the Abkhaz leadership in Moscow, Russia.
Bagapsh was Prime Minister of Abkhazia at a time when there was a very real danger of renewed conflict with Georgia. He also led the entity while its separatist leader, Vladislav Ardzinba, was still able to govern effectively, so Bagapsh had much less power than some of his successors.[citation needed] Former Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze once claimed that Bagapsh never passed any resolution without Ardzinba.
The Georgian-Abkhaz tensions during Bagapsh's time in office came to a height in May, 1998, when the Tbilisi-based government-in-exile deployed forces along the Abkhaz-Georgian border.[citation needed] In the resulting conflict, which was colloquially named the "Six Day War", 30,000 Georgian refugees fled across the border to the town of Zugdidi. 1,695 Georgian houses were also burned down.
Bagapsh was the Abkhaz Minister of Energy when he began to emerge as a likely opposition candidate in the leadup to the 2004 elections. On July 20, 2004, the two main opposition movements, Amtsakhara and United Abkhazia, named him as their joint candidate for the October presidential elections (which were not recognized by international community), beating out other hopefuls, such as former foreign minister Sergey Shamba. In the elections, Bagapsh and his main opponent, Raul Khadjimba, disputed the results. The Abkhaz Electoral Commission originally declared Khadjimba to be the winner, with Bagapsh a distant second, but the Supreme Court later found that Bagapsh had won with 50.3% of the vote. The court later reversed its decision after Khadjimba's supporters stormed the court building. At one point, Bagapsh and his supporters threatened to hold their own inauguration on December 6, 2004. However, in early December, Bagapsh and Khadjimba reached an agreement to run together on a national unity ticket. New elections were held on January 12, 2005, with this ticket easily winning. Under the agreement, Bagapsh ran for president and Khadjimba ran for vice-president.
| presidential candidate | vice presidential candidate | votes | % |
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| Sergei Bagapsh | Raul Khadjimba | 69,326 | 91.54 |
| Iakub Lakoba | ? | 3,400 | 4.7 |
| total | 75,733 | 100 | |
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| Preceded by Gennady Gagulia |
Prime Minister of Abkhazia 1997–1999 |
Succeeded by Vyacheslav Tsugba |
| Preceded by Vladislav Ardzinba |
President of Abkhazia 2005–present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
