‘Pashinyan, we voted for you, let’s see where the people's justice is’ – Parakarchiks hold protest

We are protesting against the non-elected mayor of Parakar. More than 60% of the population is against him. We are preparing to go to the Armavir regional administration as well and will fight against illegalities, we will do everything until our voice is heard in the government. This was stated by one of the residents participating in the protest against the election of the newly elected mayor of Parakar, Davit Minasyan, during a conversation with reporters.

“Our expectation is that the community leader and council members who were not elected by the people understand that they were not elected by the people and annul their election. The people do not accept their governance. Where is it written that two people should govern the community? If this is the case, there are 21 council members, let’s give each one a day to govern. Is this justice? This people elected their prime minister, only to trample on the people's justice? Finally, should justice be visible during these four years or not? We were all 3 million prime ministers, and now they consider no one important, they do not want to listen to our voice,” he said.

One of the residents noted that she came to the protest with her son and will remain in the street until the end if necessary. “Our voices should be restored; what should we do, should we leave? He [Pashinyan] said justice, let’s see where that justice is, we voted for you, we walked to the square, we stayed in the square for three days, and now our voices are not taken into account,” she added.

It is worth mentioning that in the local self-government elections held on December 5, the 'Living Country' party received 10 mandates, the 'Davit Minasyan' coalition received 9 mandates, and 'Civil Contract' received 2 mandates in Parakar. The first session of the Parakar council was held on December 23, 2021, but they could not elect a community head. The 'Living Country' party got the most mandates and on that basis proposed their candidate, Valodya Grigoryan, for the position of mayor. On the same day, a repeated session was held, during which a representative of the 'Davit Minasyan' coalition was elected mayor with 11 votes in favor. Each side believes that its candidate is the legitimate head of the community. On that day, the 'Davit Minasyan' coalition also filed a lawsuit in court demanding that the results of the mayoral elections be declared invalid, which was accepted.