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Political strategist Armen Badalyan claims both Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party and some oppositionists helped the Republic (Hanrapetutyun) Party win seats in the Yerevan municipal council.

Civil Contract won roughly 33 percent of the vote in Sunday’s municipal elections in the Armenian capital. But it fell well short of an absolute majority in the Yerevan City Council.

The National Progress party led by former Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutyan came in second with 18․89 percent, followed by the Mother Armenia bloc which won 15.43 percent.

The Republic Party thought to be allied to Pashinyan gained 11.32 percent, while the Public Voice Party won 9.68 percent of the vote.

The voter turnout was 28.5 percent, representing 234,553 out of 824,250 eligible voters.

In an interview to Panorama.am on Monday, Badalyan attributed the low turnout to the “unappealing” campaign promises made by the political forces, as well as public distrust in electoral processes.

Also, he highlighted Hayk Marutyan’s “remarkable” success in the elections.

“He had no resources, not even a party, but he enjoys credibility among the Yerevan residents, he almost did not engage in campaigning. It should be further analyzed, in particular, why the Yerevan residents voted for him,” Badalyan said.

He said the electoral success of the Public Voice Party led by U.S.-based blogger Vardan Ghukasyan (better known as Dog) was predictable given the large number of his followers.

“Two factors helped the Republic Party win such a number of votes. This party was pursuing an anti-Russian policy line, and anti-Russian sentiments have become overwhelming among Yerevan residents. Second, the anti-Russian forces saw the party as a force that would be able to overcome the required threshold. Civil Contract’s supporters also campaigned for it in order to form a coalition with the ruling party. But it did not work, no matter how hard they tried. Rumor has it that some opposition members were also working for the Republic Party,” the analyst said.