On January 12th 2005, Sergey Bagapsh will be most probably the elected President of Abkhazia, Republic non-recognized by the International community and officially part of Georgia.

Born in 1949 in Sukhumi, he would have always been living in Abkhazia. As a student, he worked in a wine co-op, and then as a security guard for the State Bank. He graduated from the Georgian Institute of Agronomy, with a specialization in subtropical economy.

In 1972, he does his military service at the head of a sovkhoze, and then becomes instructor at the regional Komsomol (Communist Youth Organisation) of Abkhazia. In 1978, he is in charge of the Information at the central committee VLKSM in Georgia, and then becomes First Secretary of the regional committee VLKSM in Abkhazia in 1980.

As a new step for his political carreer, he becomes two years later the First Secretary of the Communist Party for the region of Ochamchire. After having climbed the ladder progressively, he is appointed Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Republic of Abkhazia from April 1997 to June 1999.

He is however under Vladislav Ardzinba’s power who is in control of the region, and as such he has little politic influence. He thus decides to start his career in business so as to expand his economy network: he becomes in 2001 general director of the Abkhazian electricity company ChernoMorEnergo (BlackSeaEnergy), while he is still part of the government as the Minister of Energy.

Fulfilling his growing ambition, on July 20th 2004, he is nominated as the presidential candidate for the October 2004 elections by two movements of opposition, Abkhazia United and Amtsakhara (an influent group of veterans of 1992-1993 war).

He is mainly supported by networks of the Abkhazians Economy. As for Raul Khajimba, his main rival, he is supported by the clan of the outgoing president Vladislav Ardzinba, Abkhazian officials and the local KGB for which he was once working. And last but not least Khajimba is backed by Moscow. On October 3rd 2004, Sergey Bagapsh is declared the winner by the Central Electoral Commission, the Parliament and the Council of the Elders. This provokes a turmoil of events with a general atmosphere of heightened tension. On December 5th 2004, Sergey Bagapsh announces, one day before his official inauguration as President, that he and his rival Khajimba came to an agreement for a new round of voting to be held on January 12th 2005. But this time they run on a joint-ticket since Khajimba will be the running mate of Bagapsh, as the candidate for vice-president.

Pro-Georgian or pro-Russian ?

The Georgian press pictures him as the least anti-Georgian candidate since his wife is Georgian.

And yet his statements are always moderate, and are tilting toward the Russian guideline so as to collect votes. In response to the congratulations made by Mikhail Saakashvili on the Georgian television for his presidential victory, he announced on the Abkhazian TV that the Russians are his main allies.

Sergey Bagapsh is indeed now supported by Moscow, when it was before supporting Khajimba. Moreover, he stated on last December 16th that he wanted to implement Russian laws in Abkhazia.

And yet in 2003, at a wedding in Tbilisi, Sergey Bagapsh, publically stated that he was in favor of a rapprochement between Abkhazia and Georgia. This videotape was to be used by his rivals and broadcasted on the Abkhazian TV by mid-October, but it was intercepted on time by Bagapsh’s supporters.

He is also alleged to have close relationships with Georgian politicians. As a proof of it, he met with Nino Burjanadze, upon his visit to Moscow, on November 2nd 2004 and they discussed about the situation in Abkhazia.