The move by the political bloc unofficially led by Samvel Balasanian, a local businessman and former mayor, follows weeks of uncertainty after an arrest warrant was issued for him earlier this month. It also raises the prospect of a new snap election in Gyumri two years ahead of schedule.
The bloc named after Balasanian has been effectively paralyzed by criminal charges brought earlier this month against him and four other people close to him. They are accused of illegally privatizing municipal land in 2014 in what Armenian opposition figures view as an attempt by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s ruling Civil Contract party to seize power in Gyumri. Balasanian, who is reportedly in the United States at the moment, has not commented on the developments.
The Balasanian Bloc controls 14 seats in the 33-member council, compared with 11 seats held by Civil Contract. Under the law, the legislature can continue to operate with only 19 members, as only 17 votes are necessary for a quorum. It is still unclear whether members of other minority groups will ensure the quorum if Civil Contract decides to install a new mayor within the next month. If the local legislature fails to elect a new mayor after the bloc’s exit, it will be disbanded and a new election will be held. Until that ballot, Gyumri, the center of Armenia’s northwestern Shirak region, is to be run by an interim mayor appointed by the central government.
The governor of Shirak, who is affiliated with Civil Contract, has not concealed the ruling party’s aspirations to take power in Gyumri.
“Things will tell when the time comes for us to go for new elections and change the [city] power,” Governor Mushegh Muradian said recently.
Alen Simonian, the Armenian parliament speaker and a senior Civil Contract figure, also told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service last week that the ruling party was “getting ready for that scenario.”
Simonian indicated that the snap election will likely take place “in the second half of next year.” He revealed that his party’s governing board, headed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, discussed preparations for it and even chose a mayoral candidate at a meeting held on October 23.
Speaking in parliament shortly before that meeting, Pashinian claimed to be unaware of the latest developments in Gyumri. He laughed off opposition claims that his administration is using politically motivated charges to seize power in yet another local community.