Parliamentary elections were held in Abkhazia on 23 November 1996, with a second round on 7 December.
The election was held to replace the former Abkhaz Autonomous Republic's Supreme Soviet which had split during the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict in 1993 with 28 deputies continuing in Abkhazia as the Abkhaz Supreme Soviet.
Voters could choose by crossing off all the names on the list of candidates that they didn't want to be the elected, except for the one they preferred.
These 30 MPs elected included 19 Abkhazians, four Russians, three Armenians, two Georgians, one Greek and one Kabardian.
In response to the elections, Georgia organised a referendum among refugees from Abkhazia, with polling stations opened in Moscow, St Petersburg, Podolsk and Sochi in Russia, Kyiv in Ukraine, Trabzon in Turkey, Minsk in Belarus, Yerevan in Armenia, as well as in Greece and Israel.