The agreement was reached two years ago following a municipal election in which a bloc linked to the city’s longtime former mayor, Samvel Balasanian, garnered most votes but fell short of a majority in the local council. The Balasanian Bloc teamed up with Civil Contract, which finished second.
In line with that deal, the new Gyumri council appointed the Balasanian Bloc’s Vardges Samsonian as mayor and two Civil Contract members as deputy mayors. Seveal other members of the party led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian were also given posts in the municipal administration.
All those officials stepped down after Civil Contract unexpectedly announced last week the end of the power-sharing arrangement. It said vaguely that it does not want to be part of what it called “shady governance.”
Local Civil Contract leaders shed little light on their discord with the Balasanian Bloc when they met the press to explain the decision. They accused the bloc and the incumbent mayor of a lack of transparency but did not elaborate.
Knarik Harutiunian, who leads the Civil Contract group in the city council, complained about “outside forces meddling in municipal governance.” It was not clear whether she referred to ex-Mayor Balasanian.
“I will now refrain from giving any names,” said Harutiunian.
Pashinian’s party scrapped the coalition deal in Gyumri one day after controversially ousting the head of a major community in neighboring Lori province comprising the town of Alaverdi and two dozen other towns and villages.
The mayor, Arkadi Tamazian, lost his narrow majority in the Alaverdi council after one of its members representing his opposition Aprelu Yerkir party defected to Civil Contract in July. Civil Contract capitalized on the defection to replace Tamazian by its local leader amid serious procedural violations alleged by the Armenian opposition and some civil society members.
Commenators have suggested that Pashinian’s political team may attempt a similar power grab in Armenia’s second largest city. Harutiunian said, however, that such a scenario is “not realistic” because Civil Contract controls only 11 of the 33 seats in the Gyumri council. She insisted that her party has not urged any council members to defect to it or reeived such offers from any of them.
Meanwhile, the Balasanian Bloc and the Gyumri mayor remained reluctant to comment on Civil Contract’s accusations and reveal their next steps. The collapse of their alliance with Pashinian came as a surprise also because Balasanian’s son Misak was appointed as Armenia’s ambassador to Iraq just two months ago.