Avinian predicted that the party headed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian will win more than 50 percent of the vote and retain control of the city council empowered to appoint the Armenian capital’s mayor.
“We are confident that we will manage to garner the majority [of votes,]” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
“We have delivered on what we promised [in 2018,] and we are proposing a new, more ambitious five-year plan,” he said.
Civil Contract fell short of the outright majority in Yerevan during Armenia’s last general elections held in June 2021. Official vote results showed it doing much better in other, especially rural parts of the country. But the party should benefit this time around from the decision by the two main opposition alliances to boycott the local polls slated for September 17.
Andranik Tevanian, a lawmaker representing one of those alliances, Hayastan, disagreed with the boycott and set up his own electoral bloc to join the mayoral race. Tevanian insisted that his victory would pave the way for Pashinian’s removal from power as he and his allies campaigned in Yerevan’s northern Arabkir district on Thursday.
“Our participation in the municipal elections in Yerevan is an opportunity to effect regime change at the national level,” he told local residents. “Regime change is the key precondition for ensuring the security of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.”
Another opposition contender, the Aprelu Yerkir party, has also described the mayoral race as an opportunity to precipitate Pashinian’s ouster.
Avinian indicated that unlike in the last Yerevan elections held five years ago, Pashinian will not actively participate in the ruling party’s election campaign because of “much tougher” challenges facing his government.
Avinian also denied illegally using his administrative resources to gain unfair advantage over his rivals and facilitate his victory. A coalition of civic groups that will monitor the September 17 vote again accused him and Civil Contract of foul play in an extensive report released this week.