Your trusted source

The Bright Armenia Party, led by former lawmaker Edmon Marukyan, continues “pouring water into the mill of the authorities”, preventing the Vanadzor City Council from electing a new head of the community, Pastinfo reported on Friday.

Bright Armenia challenged the results of the local elections held in Vanadzor enlarged community earlier in December in the Administrative Court of Armenia.

The source recalled that the party filed a separate motion to the Administrative Court to oblige the Vanadzor municipal council not to hold a meeting to install a new Vanadzor mayor before the final ruling on the matter.

The Administrative Court, presided over by judge Hrach Ayvazian, partially grated the motion on Friday, just before a planned meeting of the Vanadzor City Council, Pastinfo said.

An opposition bloc led by former Mayor of Vanadzor Mamikon Aslanyan won the elections with nearly 39 percent of the vote. The ruling Civil Contract party garnered 25% of the vote. The Bright Armenia Party finished a distant sixth in the elections. The outcome of the elections was not significantly changed after a recount of votes.

“The opposition now has a real chance to form a government headed by Mamikon Aslanyan, which, however, is not in the interests of the Civil Contract party, which is trying to prevent the opposition forces from forming an alliance. In the light of all this, the Bright Armenia Party, which was also rejected by the Vanadzor residents, challenged the vote results. As a result, the formation of the local government was postponed for a week, which, in fact, allowed Civil Contract to buy time to continue repressions against members of the City Council.

“Mamikon Aslanyan is under arrest. Today a meeting of the Vanadzor City Council was to be convened for the election of a new mayor, which, however, failed due to Marukyan's efforts," Pastinfo said.