Op-ed: Why is Abkhazia's president proposing constitutional amendments?

President Aslan Bzhania of Abkhazia has drafted amendments to the constitution, including one granting him the power to dissolve parliament, which is unlikely to gain support among deputies. According to Abkhaz editor Inal Khashig of JAMnews, Bzhania’s initiative seems unnecessary even to the president himself, serving primarily to belatedly fulfill his pre-election promises. [ . . . ] In 2020, Aslan Bzhania, who was then still the opposition leader, was seen as a reformer. The main point of his election campaign was a promise to carry out constitutional reform. It was on this platform that he was elected president. But then he seems to have reconsidered his views and didn’t have much desire to share power with parliament or anyone else, for that matter. In principle, such behavior was typical of his predecessors in the presidential office.
Read the full article here: JAM News