Has the fate of Yerevan's elections been decided? Who will be the deputy mayor?

The newspaper "Hraparak" reports that "There will be no new elections for the Yerevan city council. The fate of Yerevan's elections was determined by Vardan Ghukasian, known as 'Dog', the leader of the 'Public Voice' party. Days ago, mayoral candidate Hayk Marutyan announced that the opposition had failed to reach a consensus, and therefore the only solution is for the forces that passed the city council to simply boycott the first two sessions of the council to ensure there is no quorum, leading to the appointment of new elections. A similar statement was made by Andranik Tevanian's 'Mother Armenia' bloc as well. If 'Public Voice' also boycotts, then the ruling authorities would not be able to hold a city council session due to lack of quorum, and they would be forced to go for new elections.

However, as expected and as we were previously informed, some members of 'Public Voice' shifted their position, and yesterday Vardan Ghukasian announced that he would not go for a second round. This means he will support Avinyan to become the mayor. 'As the opposition, I would prefer that the Rob-Serjian clan does not strengthen further rather than Avinyan not being re-elected.' Nonetheless, there are no direct representatives of that 'clan' in the city council.

The ruling party has already begun distributing positions; it seems that Aram Zavenich's party will receive one deputy mayor position and several district heads, with Ani Khachatryan likely to be appointed as deputy mayor. Additionally, Artak Zeynalyan, who does not see himself in the mayor's office, may return to the government thanks to this mutually beneficial cooperation."

Details can be found in today's issue of the newspaper.