Gyumri has effectively had no municipal administration since last October’s mysterious resignations of its Mayor Vardges Samsonian, his deputies and members of the city council representing a local political bloc at odds with the Armenian government. The resignations followed criminal charges brought against the bloc’s unofficial leader, businessman Samvel Balasanian.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s Civil Contract party initially signaled plans to hold the snap election in late December or early January. But it changed its mind afterwards, deciding instead to delay the vote and run the city in the interim. An Armenian law on local government was hastily amended for that purpose this month.
The ruling party also abandoned plans to nominate the controversial head of its local chapter, Karen Sarukhanian, as its mayoral candidate. It handpicked another candidate, Sarik Minasian, as a result of a “primary election” held on December 8-10.
Minasian, who has until now headed the Gyumri division of the national social security service, is currently not a member of Civil Contract. He received more votes than each of the five other candidates affiliated with the party. Pashinian said on Thursday that he will appoint Minasian as acting mayor on Friday.
He made the announcement as his government dissolved Gyumri’s effectively paralyzed municipal council empowered to appoint the mayor. But the government made sure that the dissolution takes effect on February 20, a move clearly designed to push back the election date. Citing the law in question, the Central Election Commission (CEC) clarified later in the day that the vote will take place on March 30.
Meanwhile, opposition groups in Gyumri repeated their claims that Civil Contract is delaying the election and installing the interim mayor in order to be able to use its government levers to boost its electoral chances. Pashinian’s political allies have denied the claims.
Speaking during Thursday’s cabinet meeting, Pashinian also announced the resignation of the governor of the Shirak province, of which Gyumri is the capital. The governor, Mushegh Muradian, claimed to be unaware of his impending replacement when he talked to journalists shortly before attending the meeting. Muradian is a figure close to Sarukhanian, the putative mayoral candidate ditched by the ruling party.