Citizens Block Martuni–Vardenis Road

Citizens have blocked the Martuni–Vardenis road, demanding the election of the head of the enlarged Vardenis community, Araon Khachatryan, who is the head of the council faction of 'Aharon Khachatryan'.

“For me, the active force is Aharon Khachatryan. He can do something heartfelt for our region,” said one of the residents of the village of Dzovak.

Earlier, we reported that in the local government elections held on December 5, the 'Civil Contract' party received 13 mandates, while the 'Aharon Khachatryan' alliance got 10, and 'United Vardenis' had 4 mandates. After the elections, the opposition forces signed a memorandum to form a coalition, and the number of mandates was already sufficient to elect a community head.

Subsequently, the first candidate of 'United Vardenis', former mayor of Vardenis Aram Harutyunyan, was charged within the framework of a criminal case and was detained. Nevertheless, opposition members of the council managed to hold a session and elect Aharon Khachatryan as the community mayor. The representatives of the 'Civil Contract' party did not participate in that session.

The 'Civil Contract' party has appealed to the Administrative Court, demanding the annulment of the results of the first session of the newly elected council of the enlarged Vardenis community. The court partially granted the request and annulled the election results for the community mayor. This means that the council must elect a community mayor again.