How and When Will the Name of Yerevan's 14th Mayor Be Announced? Clarification

City council elections are held during the first session of the newly elected council. In this case, the newly elected council is expected to assume its powers on October 10, as the current council took office on October 10, 2018. This was stated by the Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission Vahagn Hovakimyan in an interview with Sputnik Armenia.

“If fewer than three parties pass the electoral threshold, the distribution of mandates will then involve the three parties or possibly a coalition that received the most votes. According to the Electoral Code, at least three political forces must be involved in the distribution of mandates,” Hovakimyan explained.

He reminded that a similar situation arose in the 2018 Yerevan City Council elections. If one of the participating parties in the elections obtains more than 50 percent of the seats on the council, then the candidate at the head of that party’s list is considered the elected mayor by law. If no party (or coalition) receives more than 50 percent of the seats, the mayor is elected through a secret ballot. In that case, the council must elect a mayor within a two-week period after assuming their powers.

According to the law, if more than one candidate is nominated, the candidate who receives the majority of votes from the total number of council members is elected as mayor. If the council fails to agree and does not elect a mayor within the two-week period, the government must announce early elections for the council after that period, according to the CEC chairman.

“We have had similar cases in the regions, such as in Vedi and Sisian,” the CEC chairman recalled.

It should be noted that the Yerevan City Council is the highest representative body of local self-government in the capital. The council consists of 65 members who are elected for a five-year term. The term of the newly elected council commences from the moment of the first session. From that moment, the term of the previous council expires.

Unlike national elections, it is not mandatory to have Armenian citizenship to have the right to vote in council elections. Individuals who do not have Armenian citizenship but have a one-year registration in Yerevan also have the right to vote. The same conditions apply to candidates for council members, but not for mayoral candidates.

Mandates are distributed proportionally among all political forces that have surpassed the minimum vote threshold (4 percent for parties and 6 percent for party coalitions).