refuse to hand over body, citing need for post-mortem by Russian experts until 20 March, about a month after reported death. March 18 March – De facto Abkhazia and South Ossetia take part in the 2018 Russian presidential election, showing record turnout in voting, with local authorities organizing vote and campaigning for Vladimir Putin. Tbilisi condemns the polls as illegal. 19 March – Russia launches large-scale military drills including in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, involving some 8,000 troops. 21 March – The Parliament of Georgia adopts a bipartisan resolution condemning "gross human rights violations in the Russian-occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali Region", including the deaths of two Georgians, Giga Otkhozoria and Archil Tatunashvili in the conflict zones in May 2016 and February 2018, respectively. 23 March – The Parliament of Georgia adopts with the third and final reading amendments to the new constitution, incorporating several Venice Commission-recommended changes to the original amendments. April 4 April – Georgian government unveils a new peace initiative for the breakaway entities of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, consisting of new package of laws and project papers in the areas such as simplified registration, increased trade, and education opportunities for people living in these regions. The proposal is rejected by Russia and the de facto authorities in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. May 1 May – Georgia implements new smoking regulations, banning smoking in public places and imposing restrictions on selling and advertising of tobacco products. 11 May – Facing internal splits, the ruling Georgian Dream party elects its influential founder and the former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili to chair the party. 12–14 May – Thousands protests in front of the Parliament building in Tbilisi following heavy-handed police raids on the city's leading nightclubs, including the internationally famed Bassiani, for search of suspected drug dealers. The demonstrators, dancing to club music, denounce excessive use of force by police and the government's repressive drug police. The rally—described in the media as the Rave Revolution—stops without achieving any tangible results after the Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia pledges to further work on drug policy reform. 18 May – The Federal Customs Service of Russia signs a contract with the Geneva-based testing and inspection company, SGS, on carrying out cargo monitoring through three "trade corridors" between Georgia and Russia, two of which run through the breakaway entities of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and the third one on the Zemo Larsi-Kazbegi border crossing