KGB-Trained Candidates Face Off in 'Illegal' Abkhazia Poll

Voters in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia went to the polls on Sunday to choose a president from two former KGB trainees in an election already denounced as illegal by the European Union and Georgia. 

Abkhazia, which is recognized only by a handful of states including Russia, called snap elections following the resignation of former president Alexander Ankvab in June.

Blamed by his opponents for Abkhazia's economic and social troubles, Ankvab stepped down in the face of large-scale opposition protests.

Some 110,000 are eligible to vote in the election, in which voters will choose between four candidates, including the favorite Raoul Khadjimba. 

Khadjimba, 56, is the leader of the republic's main opposition group and played a key role in the protests that forced Ankvab to resign. 

His main rival is 51-year-old Asslan Bjania, a former head of national security.

Both candidates are graduates of the Soviet KGB training school in Moscow, and are considered pro-Russian.

The first partial results should be announced by Monday morning, according to the Central Election Commission.

But the European Union has already said that it "does not recognize" the election, saying in a statement that it "supports the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia." 

Georgia called the election a "violation of fundamental principles of international law, primarily those of national sovereignty," according to the Russian news agency Interfax.

A lush strip of land on the balmy Black Sea coast, Abkhazia is home to some 240,000 people and is heavily dependent on Russian aid.

Abkhaz separatists declared independence after driving out Georgian troops in a civil war in the 1990s that killed several thousand people and forced a quarter of a million, mostly ethnic Georgians, out of the region.

Moscow recognized Abkhazia as independent in the wake of Russia's brief war with Georgia in 2008 and permanently stationed thousands of troops at military bases there in a move that Tbilisi describes as an occupation.