Expensive Whims of the Ruling Party: New Election Costs Announced

The newspaper "Zhoghovurd" reports that due to post-election processes in the town of Vedi, new local self-government elections will be held. As known, representatives of the ruling "Civil Contract" party and the "Republic" party, led by Aram Sargsyan, who were elected as members of the council, have decided to submit applications for self-withdrawal and abandon their mandates, which means new elections will take place in Vedi.

According to Article 73 of the Local Self-Government Law, if any political force does not have the majority of established mandates, it cannot independently assume governance, and the government is obliged to appoint new elections within a 7-day period.

But why did they act this way? As a result of the December 5 elections in Vedi, the "My Powerful Community" party, led by Spartak Tartikyan, received the most votes—8668 votes. The "Civil Contract," under the leadership of Garik Sargsyan, came in second with 7706 votes, while the party of Prime Minister Pashinyan's supporter, Aram Zavenich, received 3346 votes. Lacking 50% + 1 of the votes, none of the forces could independently take over the city's governance.

It seemed that a coalition would be formed between Pashinyan and Zavenich, as is often done in many communities, but a coalition around Garik Hakobyan, who headed the list of Zavenich's party, never materialized.

Seven days later, there will be new elections, which in turn entails new expenses, including the printing of ballot papers, compensating commission members, and other organizational work. In short, every election incurs costs primarily to the state budget, meaning that the whims or failures of the authorities will also have financial consequences for all citizens.

It should be noted that while new elections have not yet been scheduled, it remains unclear how much the costs will be; however, based on the figures from previous elections, the "Zhoghovurd" newspaper clarified that approximately 8-10 million drams will be spent on organizing elections for a single community.