The bloc named after Samvel Balasanian, a local businessman and former mayor, has been effectively paralyzed by criminal charges brought earlier this month against Balasanian and four other people close to him. They are accused of illegally privatizing municipal land in 2014 in what Armenian opposition figures see as the ruling Civil Contract party’s efforts to seize power in Gyumri.
Armenia’s Investigative Committee issued an arrest warrant for Balasanian last week days after the ex-mayor’s younger son was detained and moved to house arrest. The city’s current deputy mayor, Suren Janoyan, is among the three other suspects in the case. Janoyan too is under house arrest.
Samvel Balasanian, who is reportedly undergoing medical treatment in the United States, has still not commented on the accusations. Samsonian, the current mayor related to him, also remains silent. Citing health reasons, the mayor switched to remote work right after Balasanian’s indictment.
Sources told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Wednesday that Samsonian and other members of the Balasanian Bloc have decided to leave the city council. This means that Samsonian will also resign as mayor. A spokesperson for the bloc declined to comment on the information, saying that it will make a statement soon.
Civil Contract controls only 11 of the 33 seats in the Gyumri council, compared with 14 seats held by the Balasanian Bloc. The party led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian lacks 6 votes to install a new mayor affiliated with it.
Armenia -- Gyumri Mayor Samvel Balasanian speaks to journalists, December 23, 2019.
It remains to be seen whether the party can engineer defections from the Balasanian Bloc or two other political groups represented in the local legislature for that purpose. If the council fails to elect Samsonian’s successor, it will be dissolved and a fresh municipal election will be called.
The crackdown on the ex-mayor and his entourage was launched nearly one year after Civil Contract pulled out of a power-sharing deal with the Balasanian Bloc. The ruling party has since made no secret of its desire to gain control of the municipal administration. Its critics say the criminal proceedings were ordered by Pashinian to ensure such a power grab.
Mher Melkonian, an opposition member of the Armenian parliament, on Wednesday accused Pashinian of seeking to overturn local election results in yet another community.
“Using all the possible and impossible methods of exerting governmental pressure, you are trying to seize power in Gyumri as well, just like you did in Akhurian, Vanadzor, and Alaverdi,” Melkonian charged during the Armenian government’s question-and-answer session in the National Assembly. That, he said, makes mockery of Pashinian’s stated commitment to democracy.
Pashinian laughed off the claim, saying that he is unaware of the latest developments in Gyumri. A local leader of his party likewise claimed that it “has done nothing to achieve regime change in Gyumri.”
Pashinian’s party managed to gain de facto control of Vanadzor, the country’s third largest city, in 2022 despite being defeated in a local election. The election winner, Mamikon Aslanian, was arrested and prosecuted on corruption charges in the wake of the ballot. He was released from jail on bail in July this year.