I Have No Desire to Work with Him: Abgaryan on the Mayoral Candidate

City council member Izabella Abgaryan hopes that Hayk Marutyan's dismissal will not come to pass, but if Hratchya Sargsyan is appointed to the position, he will not be a legitimate mayor for her. "Naturally, I have no desire to work with him. I will never recognize him as the mayor of Yerevan. When I see him, I will say, 'Hello, mayor of the CP party.'" Abgaryan noted that Hratchya Sargsyan does not understand what is happening around him and has become a political figure.

"He cannot become the leader of the political team in the city hall. I cannot imagine how he will manage this staff; he will not be managing the council but the municipality itself. From the collector to the head of the department and to the drivers of garbage trucks, everyone sees it was unpleasant that Hratchya Sargsyan joined the petition drive. It was an ugly thing from the proposer as well," she said.

According to Abgaryan, to manage a collective, a person must have unquestionable authority in their eyes; otherwise, they become a self-proclaimed leader. "Not considering Hayk Marutyan as mayor, for me, means spitting on the votes given by the people in a democratically conducted election. The residents of Yerevan did not vote for the leader of the PP party, but for the leader of the revolutionary movement 'My Step,' and we are all part of 'My Step.'"

Abgaryan stated that she will be a true opposition in the council, because the council's opposition joined the government's petition drive, which is based not on the poor performance of the mayor but on issues within the team. Addressing the issue of resigning from the council mandate later, she mentioned that she would discuss it with Hayk Marutyan to understand what to do later.

Abgaryan noted that in the current state of crisis, it would be good to end this so-called 'monkey business' of impeachment, so that Yerevan does not enter history as the most disgraceful assembly that votes for non-confidence in a mayor for political views. According to the council member, salvation could be that Hratchya Sargsyan withdraws his candidacy and states that he refuses to become mayor.