They were the first direct presidential elections in Abkhazia, and resulted in a victory for incumbent President Vladislav Ardzinba, who ran unopposed.

[2] Incumbent President Ardzinba was nominated by the national-patriotic movement Apsny,[3] and also received the support of the Communist Party[4] and the Abkhaz diaspora in Turkey.

[5] On 2 September, the CEC registered the nomination of former Foreign Minister Leonid Lakerbaia by his People's Party.

[7] The CEC also denied registration to Yahya Kazan, who had been Abkhazia's representative in the United States, on the grounds that he had not lived in Abkhazia for the previous five years and that he did not have a working command of the Abkhaz language.

[8] There were also rumours that former Vice Chairman Zurab Achba of Aidgylara would run for president, which he dismissed in an interview with Nuzhnaya Gazeta as a "nightmare of an idea".