The announcement made late on Tuesday fueled opposition claims that Pashinian and his Civil Contract party plan to abuse their government levers in a bid to win the election.
Gyumri was left without a municipal administration a month ago following a government crackdown on a businessman whose bloc had run the city until since 2021. The businessman, Samvel Balasanian, was charged with illegally privatizing municipal land in 2014. Gyumri Mayor Vardges Samsonian, his deputies and the other members of the Balasanian Bloc holding seats in the city council responded by resigning in the following days.
Pashinian’s party swiftly began preparations for the snap polls which were initially expected to take place in late December or the first half of January. However, its senior representatives afterwards signaled a possible election delay, claiming that the ballot cannot be held in the absence of an elected or interim head of the local community. They said Civil Contract therefore intends to enact legal amendments that would empower the government to appoint a caretaker mayor.
Pashinian confirmed this in a video message posted on Facebook. The acting mayor will likely top Civil Contract’s list of candidates in the “upcoming” vote, he said without giving possible election dates.
Pashinian also said the acting mayor will be chosen as a result of a “primary election” that will take place in Gyumri from December 8-10. Not only Civil Contract members but also “randomly” chosen city residents not affiliated with the ruling party will be able to participate in it, added the premier. He did not specify just how those citizens will be selected.
Armenia - A session of the municipal council of Gyumri, December 29, 2023.
Local opposition groups charged on Wednesday that Pashinian and his political team are trying to boost their electoral chances. Karen Malkhasian, who leads the Aprelu Yerkir party’s group in the outgoing city council, said the acting mayor will be appointed to use “the community’s resources” in the mayoral race.
Narek Mirzoyan, the local leader of the former ruling Republican Party, likewise claimed that Civil Contract is too unpopular to win the race without such foul play.
“Civil Contract has realized that without installing an acting mayor and thus using administrative resources it can’t get [many] votes in Gyumri,” Mirzoyan told the Hraparak daily.
Pashinian also indicated that Civil Contract candidates in next month’s “primary” will be vetted by the party leadership on the basis of “political expediency.”
The head of Civil Contract’s Gyumri chapter, Karen Sarukhanian, was unofficially designated as the party’s mayoral candidate last month. However, Sarukhanian found himself in hot water early this month after one of his cousins and another local Civil Contract activist were detained by police on suspicion of possessing drugs.
Newspaper reports said that during a November 12 meeting of the party’s governing board Pashinian ordered Sarukhanian to take a drug test and that the test came back positive. Following a weeklong silence, Sarukhanian insisted over the weekend that he took the test at his own initiative and that it on the contrary proved that he is not a drug addict.