“The [ruling] Civil Contract’s minority government must go,” Marutian said in a Facebook post late on Tuesday.
Civil Contract fell well short of an absolute majority in the city council empowered to appoint the mayor, even though it got more votes than any of its rivals. The party led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian suffered the setback despite a lack of interest in the September 17 elections shown by Armenia’s main opposition groups and a record-low turnout which observers believe played into its hands.
Nevertheless, Civil Contract managed to install its candidate, Tigran Avinian, as mayor earlier on Tuesday after reaching a power-sharing deal with a pro-establishment party and securing the effective backing of another group led by fugitive video blogger Vartan Ghukasian.
Marutian won the backing of the radical opposition bloc Mayr Hayastan, which came in third in the elections, and would have again become mayor had Ghukasian’s Public Voice party also supported his candidacy. The U.S.-based blogger also thwarted Marutian’s and Mayr Hayastan’s attempt to force a repeat ballot in the Armenian capital. It would have been called if his loyalists had boycotted the inaugural session of the Yerevan council along with the opposition councilors.
Marutian hit out at Public Voice, saying that it helped to install Avinian as mayor after trying to “sell its votes to the opposition.”
“The only thing that needs to be clarified in this regard is what Public Voice asked and received from Civil Contract in return for its support,” he added tartly.
A screenshot of YouTube video posted by Vartan Ghukasian, May 25, 2023.
Ghukasian, who was charged by Armenian law-enforcement authorities with blackmail, extortion and fraud earlier this year, denied secretly collaborating with the government and blamed the opposition for Avinian’s election.
Meanwhile, Pashinian touted the Yerevan elections as a triumph of democracy in televised remarks aired late in the evening. He did not comment on his party’s performance in the polls.
“The fact that the outcome of these elections was essentially decided by a margin of 50 to 150 votes demonstrated our unwavering commitment to the values of the 2018 velvet, peaceful revolution, democracy and the rule of law,” Pashinian told Armenian Public Television.
Marutian, 46, is a former TV comedian whom Pashinian’s political team installed as mayor after winning the previous municipal polls held in 2018. The city council ousted him in December 2021 after he fell out with the prime minister.