2022 Abkhazian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Abkhazia on 12 March 2022, with a second round taking place on 26 March.

Campaign
Abkhazia is a republic whose territory is part of Georgia and which proclaimed itself independent in 1992. Only Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Nauru and Syria recognize this independence. In the previous parliamentary elections in 2017, Georgia said it considered these elections illegal under international law, with its Foreign Minister condemning the vote as "a new attempt to legitimize ethnic cleansing, military intervention and occupation of Georgian territory resulting from Russian aggression."

123 candidates – 107 men and 16 women – ran for seats in the 35-member People's Assembly. 19 nominees were incumbent lawmakers running for re-election. The Abkhaz central election commission closed registration for candidates on 2 March. The Abkhaz government opposition requested a prolongation of the current legislature term to launch an impeachment process against president Aslan Bzhania but those requests were not answered.

Electoral system
The 35 members of the unicameral People's Assembly are elected from single-member constituencies by two-round system for five year terms.

Results by constituency
17 of the 35 constituencies elected members in the first round. At least 15 of these seats were held by supporters of the government.

8th Constituency (Mayaksky)
Another election will be held on 28 May in the 8th constituency as both candidates received the same number of votes in the second round, a first in Abkhaz history.

18th Constituency (Gudautsky Gorodskoy Pervy)
Neither candidate in the 18th constituency won a majority of the vote (invalid votes are counted). For Leonid Lakerbaia, it was the difference of a single voice. According to the law, another election will be held on 14 May.

Aftermath
Elections in the first round were accompanied by relatively low turnout, averaging 51%, and in some constituencies, notably Sukhumi and West Abkhazia, it was well below 40%. This has raised questions from some media observers about the local politicians' trust in the general population. There were reports of candidates ignoring the normal debates and focusing on service in their local communities instead, including installing new power transformers and fixing up rural roads. This was accompanied by candidates who had not been involved in politics winning or advancing to the second round at a high rate.

Government formation
Parties and candidates in favor of Aslan Bzhania won an absolute majority after the results of the second round.

On 12 April 2022 Lasha Ashuba, generally seen as an ally of Bzhania, was unanimously elected as speaker by the 33 already elected deputies to the People's Assembly, as two members are yet to be elected in repeat elections.