Stabbing After Elections: Dispute Over Who Should Be Mayor

The newspaper "Hraparak" reports: In the Vedi community of the Ararat region, post-election tensions have escalated to such a degree that a verbal dispute among supporters of participating parties culminated in a stabbing incident yesterday.

Tigran Nahapetyan, a supporter of the "Strong Community" party, and Borik Hovakimyan, a supporter of Gagik Hakobyan from the "Republic" party, who were both working at the Vedi electrical network, argued over who should become the mayor of Vedi. The argument became so heated that Hovakimyan took a knife from the table and stabbed Nahapetyan, injuring his liver. Nahapetyan was transported to the intensive care unit of "Erebuni" medical center, where his condition is assessed as critically severe.

We were informed that until yesterday Borik Hovakimyan was at large. The victim is from Vanashen and is a fellow villager of Manvel Ghazaryan, the owner of "Vedi Alko." Following the elections on December 5, none of the three participating forces secured a majority of 50+1 mandates, preventing any from forming a government independently. The "Strong Community" received the most votes, followed by the "Civil Contract," with the "Republic" party in third place.

It seemed that the last two parties would unite and elect the mayor, but the pre-election oath taken by Gagik Hakobyan, leading the account of the "Republic" party, which declared he would not join any force, has led to a stalemate in the processes.

The "Civil Contract," according to our information, is even willing to elect him as mayor, taking on two vice-mayor positions and several representatives from the community, but Hovakimyan refuses, stating that he must be the mayor and decide who will be appointed to which position.

For more details, refer to today’s issue of the newspaper.