The Party of Economic Development announced on July 21 that it would support PM Sergey Shamba in upcoming presidential election in the breakaway region, Abkhaz news agency, Apsnipress, reported.
The Party of Economic Development is led by Beslan Butba, a businessman, who was a member of the breakaway region’s Parliament from 2002 to 2007.
Butba was a presidential candidate in December, 2009 election in which Sergey Bagapsh was re-elected for the second term; Butba garnered up to 8% of votes in those elections.
He owns the only private television station in Abkhazia, Abaza TV, and the newspaper Echo of Abkhazia.