Valery Arshba

Valery Arshba Валерии Аршба
Head of the Presidential Administration of Abkhazia
In office 15 February 2005 – 1 March 2010
President	Sergei Bagapsh
Preceded by	Emma Avidzba
Succeeded by	Grigori Enik
1st Vice President of Abkhazia
In office 5 January 1995 – 12 February 2005
President	Vladislav Ardzinba
Succeeded by	Raul Khajimba
Personal details
Born	(1949-10-04) 4 October 1949 Tkvarcheli, Abkhazia

Valery Arshba (Abkhaz: Валери Шалва-иҧа Аршба, Russian: Валерий Шалвович Аршба, Georgian: ვალერი არშბა; born 4 October 1949 in Tkvarcheli) was the first Vice President of the Republic of Abkhazia. He was first elected to the office on 5 January 1995, under President Vladislav Ardzinba, and the pair was re-elected in the 1999 Presidential election where they ran unopposed. Arshba initially was a candidate in the October 2004 Abkhazian presidential election, but he withdrew just before the start of the campaign period due to pressure from his family. During the post-election crisis that followed, Arshba supported opposition candidate Sergei Bagapsh, and when the latter eventually became President following a power-sharing agreement with his rival Raul Khajimba and new elections in January 2005, Valery Arshba was made head of the presidential administration of Abkhazia on 15 February 2005.