The Zharangutyun (Heritage) party on Monday nominated its founding leader Raffi Hovannisian as its top candidate in next month’s municipal elections in Yerevan.
Voters in the Armenian capital will go to the polls on September 23 to elect a new city council that will in turn choose a replacement for Taron Markarian, who resigned as mayor on July 9 under pressure from the new government.
“We expect free and fair elections,” Hovannisian told reporters before Zharangutyun’s governing board approved his candidacy for the vacant post of mayor. The board chairman, Armen Martirosian, said he hopes Yerevan residents will appreciate the party’s “honest struggle” and “constructive approaches.”
Zharangutyun, which is not represented in the Armenian parliament, had offered to enter into an electoral alliance with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and his Civil Contract party. Hovannisian said that Pashinian never responded to the offer. He criticized the premier’s “partisan” strategy.
Civil Contract was the first party to nominate a mayoral candidate, the 41-year-old comedian Hayk Marutian, late last month. Five other political forces fielded candidates earlier this month.
Hovannisian, 58, is a U.S.-born politician who served as Armenia’s first foreign minister in 1991-1992.He was the main opposition candidate in the last Armenian presidential election held in 2013.
Hovannisian teamed up with former Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian and former Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian ahead of the April 2017 parliamentary elections. Their ORO alliance failed to win any seats in the parliament. Official election results showed it garnering only 2 percent of the vote. Hovannisian confirmed the demise of the bloc last month.
Facebook Forum