For the first time in years a pro-establishment candidate running in a major election in Armenia has agreed to participate in a televised debate with his rivals.
Hayk Marutian, a popular actor and producer who is running for the office of Yerevan’s mayor in September 23 elections, said on Thursday that he supported the idea after RFE/RL’s Armenian Service offered to host such a debate.
Under Armenian election law, candidates are not required to participate in televised debates. No senior incumbent official or government-backed candidate has participated in such a debate since 2003 when then President Robert Kocharian clashed in a historic live show on television with his principal rival Stepan Demirchian ahead of a presidential run-off.
Marutian, who is a member of the Civil Contract party of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and leads the My Step alliance consisting of active participants of last spring’s street protests that brought Pashinian to power, believes that all candidates should participate in a televised debate. “This is a civilized option and we should do that. I am the first to say yes, I am ready, but on condition that all 12 [mayoral] candidates running in the current elections are present, all are given equal time and participate on equal terms,” he said.
Official campaigning in the elections to Yerevan’s Council of Elders kicked off on September 10 and will continue through September 21.
Residents of the Armenian capital will go to the polls on September 23 to elect the 65-member body according to party lists. The Council of Elders will then elect a new mayor of Yerevan. Under Armenian election law, if any of the political parties and alliances manages to gain more than 40 percent of the vote, the top candidate on its list will be elected mayor automatically.
Three of the political parties and blocs contesting the elections are also represented in the Pashinian government. These are the Prosperous Armenia Party of tycoon Gagik Tsarukian, which fielded lawmaker Naira Zohrabian as its mayoral candidate, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), whose list is topped by Mikael Manukian, and the Luys alliance led by Justice Minister Artak Zeynalian.
Among other major candidates running for mayor in the current elections are also former lawmaker Zaruhi Postanjian of the Yerkir Tsirani party and former foreign minister Raffi Hovannisian representing the Heritage party.
The former ruling Republican Party of Armenia is not participating in the current elections. Its senior member Taron Markarian resigned in July after serving as Yerevan mayor for seven years. The Council of Elders could not elect a new mayor, triggering early elections by popular vote.
The current election campaign in Yerevan is focused on a number of issues, including transportation, waste management, the improvement of city infrastructure, kindergartens and others.
Prime Minister Pashinian has vowed to ensure free, fair and democratic elections. Many analysts believe the Yerevan vote will become the first major test for the reformist leader and his political team head of early parliamentary elections expected at some time before next summer.