The snap election is expected to take place next month or in January following a government crackdown on a local businessman whose bloc ran Armenia’s second largest city until last month.
In mid-October, the businessman, Samvel Balasanian, was charged, along with four other individuals close to him, with illegally privatizing municipal land in 2014. Gyumri Mayor, Vardges Samsonian, his deputies and the other members of the Balasanian Bloc holding seats in the city council responded by resigning in the following days. They have still not publicly commented on their resignations.
The council failed to elect a new mayor last week, paving the way for the fresh ballot. Earlier in November, Armenian parliament speaker Alen Simonian said that the head of Civil Contract’s Gyumri chapter, Karen Sarukhanian, will be the ruling party’s mayoral candidate. The party leadership in Yerevan has not yet formalized his nomination.
Media reports claimed afterwards that some Civil Contract activists in Gyumri objected to Sarukhanian’s candidacy, quarrelling and even coming to blows with the presumptive nominee during a heated meeting.
Sarukhanian, who is now a member of the Armenian parliament, dismissed the reports as “blatant lies.” He expressed confidence that he will top the list of the party’s candidates in the local polls.
Another Gyumri-based pro-government lawmaker, Davit Arushanian, claimed to be unaware of the alleged brawl. “Within our team, there may be debates but not arguments,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
The mass resignations effectively paralyzed the municipal administration. The 2,000 or so municipal officials and other public sector employees subordinate to the local government have still not received their salaries for October. Under Armenian law, their payment must be authorized by the mayor.
The Armenian opposition claims that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian ordered the criminal proceedings against Balasanian in a bid to seize power in yet another local community. Pashinian’s political allies deny that.