The Civil Contract party suffered similar setbacks in other parts of the country in October and November. It failed to install its members as mayors of the second largest city of Gyumri and the three main communities of southeastern Syunik province.
The latest polls were held in 36 other communities that were mostly enlarged by the Armenian authorities earlier this year. Voters there elected, on a party-list basis, new local councils empowered to choose community heads.
Citing preliminary vote results, Civil Contract claimed on Sunday night to have prevailed in 25 of those communities.
Opposition representatives disputed that claim on Monday. Some of them insisted that the ruling party won outright only in 15 municipalities, most of which comprise a city or town and multiple villages. They said that in all other communities Civil Contract fell short of a majority of seats in the local councils.
In what was arguably its biggest setback, Civil Contract won only 25 percent of the vote in Vanadzor, compared with about 39 percent polled by a local bloc led by Mamikon Aslanian, who served as the city’s mayor until October.
Armenia - Former Vanadzor Mayor Mamikon Aslanian at an election campaign meeting with voters in Vanadzor, November 23, 2021.
Aslanian was affiliated with the then President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) when the former Vanadzor council elected him mayor in 2016. He sought reelection not as a candidate of the HHK but as the leader of the bloc bearing his name.
Aslanian needs to cut a power-sharing deal with other election contenders in order to again become mayor. He did not indicate as of Monday afternoon whether he will try to team up with Civil Contract or another party that finished third with 14.5 percent of the vote. The party is led by Arkadi Peleshian, his former deputy.
During the election campaign Aslanian and Civil Contract’s mayoral candidate, Aram Khachatrian, harshly criticized each other and ruled out the possibility of a post-election alliance. Khachatrian is also the governor of Armenia’s northern Lori province, of which Vanadzor is the administrative center.
Pashinian’s party was also defeated in Abovian, a city 15 kilometers north of Yerevan that has long been a political stronghold of Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) leader Gagik Tsarukian.
The BHK was led in the local mayoral race by Eduard Babayan, Tsarukian’s former chief bodyguard, and won more than 45 percent of the vote. An alliance with the opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), which garnered over 5 percent, would be enough to make Babayan the new mayor of Abovian and nearby villages. Civil Contract got about 37 percent of the vote in the community.
Armenia - Businessman Gagik Tsarukian and his chief bodyguard Eduard Babayan (R) at an election campaign rally in Hrazdan, 11 April 2012.
Other municipalities won by opposition or nominally independent candidates included the capitals of Gegharkunik and Vayots Dzor provinces as well as the towns of Masis and Aparan.
By contrast, Civil Contract scored victories in three other provincial capitals and other major such as Echmiadzin, Spitak and Jermuk.
Pashinian sought to put a brave face on his party’s electoral performance, saying that the latest elections were free and fair and that this is more important than their results. He also said that his administration’s top priorities are currently “connected with external challenges” facing Armenia.
“I know and understand the view that it would have been better for us to have rigged elections but a higher degree of [national] security,” the prime minister wrote on Facebook. “But I remain convinced that it is the long-running practice of vote rigging that eroded the system of state resilience formed in the 1990s and … led to security disasters.”
While there have been virtually no allegations of serious and systematic fraud in the latest polls, Armenian opposition forces have for weeks accused Pashinian’s political team of abusing its government levers and bullying challengers to try to gain control of more local governments. The authorities deny the accusations.
Critics have also noted the abundance of former political allies of Armenia’s previous leadership among Civil Contract’s election candidates. They defected from the former ruling HHK after Pashinian swept to power in 2018.
A Civil Contract spokesman dismissed late last week suggestions that the strong presence of such individuals on the party’s electoral slates is at odds with Pashinian’s extremely negative characterizations of the country’s former rulers.