Commission on 25 July and received their certificates on 26 July. Shamba and Adzynba received political support from the Party for Economic Development on 21 July, 10 (out of 12) members of the Association of Youth Organisations on 28 July and the Communist Party 9 August. The election campaign was led by Beslan Eshba. The election was won by Alexander Ankvab. Shamba came in second place with 21.02% of the vote, narrowly ahead of Khajimba. After the election, Shamba retired from active politics. Observers noted that Shamba would have been above the legal maximum age for the Presidency at the time of the next election. Shamba himself has stated that he wanted to make way for younger politicians, hoping that Abkhazia had entered a new phase of sustained development and conflict-free transfers of power. Member of Parliament (second time) and Chairman of United Abkhazia Shamba was one of the leaders of the protests that led to the May 2014 ouster of President Ankvab. After the election of Raul Khajimba as president, he participated in the 21 December by-election in Constituency no. 24 that had become necessary after Khajimba had appointed Adgur Kharazia as acting mayor of Sukhumi. On 3 November, Shamba's nomination by an initiative group was registered. Shamba failed to obtain a first-round victory, but defeated Tengiz Agrba in the run-off on 28 December. On 5 September 2015, Shamba became the leader of a faction he established along with six other members of the People's Assembly. On 27 January 2016, Shamba was elected Chairman of United Abkhazia during its sixth congress, after Daur Tarba had resigned the role on 1 October 2015. See also References |- |- 1951 births Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia Living people People from Gudauta Prime Ministers of Abkhazia Recipients of the Order of Friendship (South Ossetia) Social-Democratic Party of Abkhazia politicians 1st convocation of the People's Assembly of Abkhazia 5th convocation of the People's Assembly of Abkhazia Candidates in the 2004 Abkhazian presidential election Candidates in the 2011 Abkhazian presidential election