Alexander Ankvab – Acting President of Abkhazia
Today’s pleasantly alliterative entrant into the World Leaders in Their Underpants cannon joins his fellow incumbents by the skin of his teeth. Not only is the state he represents scarcely recognised, but he only became president when the elected leader, Sergei Bagapsh, died in office whilst undergoing surgery. He probably should have undergone the surgery in an operating theatre instead.
Alexander Ankvab presides over the widely disputed territory of Abkhazia, which, along with nearby South Ossetia is a breakaway republic within the territory of the sovereign state of Georgia, on the Black Sea.
However, the pants-only* pantheon is nothing if not a great leveller and this survivor of no less than four assassination attempts joins the heads of other partially recognised states, Kosovo and Nagorno-Karabakh. He may also find companionship among the few world leaders who have recognised Abkhazia’s independence, including Vladimir Putin, Daniel Ortega and Hugo Chávez.
*and the occasional bra.
