EXTRACT FROM THE GAZETTE OF THE SESSION
OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE DEMOCRATIC
10 October 1918
Heard:
The report by the Chairman on the situation in
Abkhazia
Decided:
Taking into account the following facts: 1) the
certain members of the People’s Council of Abkhazia, mostly the representatives
of landowners betray the interests of the people of Abkhazia and of the
residents of the whole of Sukhumi Okrug;
they always tried to involve the foreign countries in the domestic affairs of
Abkhazia in order to promote the interests of landowners. Before it was
The Government Decided:
1. To dissolve the current composition
of the People’s Council of Abkhazia, and hold the new elections on the
basis of the universal electoral law;
2. To set up the Central Electoral Commission
for holding the elections composed of Varlam Shervashidze, Isidor Ramishvili, Vasiliy Gurjua, doctor Pashalidi and
George Shanshiev; the Commission is entitled to elect
the chairman and co-opt the people they consider reasonable;
3) To appoint Veniamin
Chkhikvishvili as a Commissar of the Sukhumi Okrug until the election
of the new Abkhaz People’s Council and
render him the whole power on the territory of Sukhumi
Okrug; before appearance of Chkhikvishvili
at his office the supreme military and civil power shall be exercised by the
Head of Sukhumi Headquarters Tukhareli;
4) Due to the dissolving the Abkhaz People’s Council the authority
of the Minister of Abkhaz Affairs colonel Chkhotua
shall be terminated; the function of the interim representative on the Abkhaz
Affairs will be carried out by the Minister of Internal Affairs;
5) The Central Electoral Commission shall
protect the property of the
Abkhaz People’s Council for transferring it to the new People’s
Council.
Authentic with original – Gr. Robakidze (signed)
(Central State Historical Archive of Georgia,
f. 1938, desc. 1, file 8, p. 18)