23/03/2020 (Agence Europe) – The spokesperson for the European External Action Service announced on Monday 23 March that the EU does not recognise the so-called presidential elections held the day before in the Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia. Opposition leader Aslan Bjania won the election with 56.5% of the vote. “The European Union does not recognise the constitutional and legal framework in which this election took place”, the spokesperson warned in a statement, reiterating that the EU will continue its policy of non-recognition and engagement. The EU supports the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia as recognized by international law, he added. According to him, the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia, Toivo Klaar, whose mandate has just been extended (see EUROPE 12433/7), remains fully mobilised on this subject. (CG)