Maroonyan has taken the mandate, we will go and participate in council meetings: party leader

Haik Maroonyan has currently taken the mandate. This was stated by the leader of the "National Progress" party, Haik Grigoryan, in a conversation with ArmLur, noting that they will go and participate in council meetings.

- Mr. Grigoryan, in fact, your boycott yielded no results; the council elected Tigran Avinyan as mayor even in your absence. Don’t you think your boycott was pointless, and that other steps should have been considered to prevent the reproduction of power?

- To prevent reproduction, there were negotiations with other forces, but that did not succeed; the next option was the boycott. If everyone had joined the boycott, including “Public Voice,” there would have been new elections, but that did not happen. However, that does not mean that the boycott was wrong. There was no consensus among the three forces, and we had to resort to the boycott.

- Mr. Grigoryan, they also say that Haik Maroonyan sabotaged the negotiations, and because of him, no agreement was reached among the opposition forces.

- That’s not exactly true; this does not need commentary. You have seen what they offered and how we responded. At least 4 or 5 times this was done publicly. Now, going back is not necessary; in fact, we have failed to agree, and this situation exists.

- The next council session is scheduled for November; will you go, will you participate in the council meetings?

- Of course, we will come, we will participate in the meetings.

- What decision does Haik Maroonyan have? Will he take the mandate, will he work with Tigran Avinyan?

- As of now, he has already taken the mandate; today, the names of the council members were announced, including his. As for what will happen later, whether he will change his mind or not, I cannot say. Although, based on the results of the elections held on September 17, the government candidate Tigran Avinyan only received 33% of the votes, today he was elected mayor with the votes of the council's CP and the “Republic” parties. It is noteworthy that the “Public Voice” party came and provided a quorum but voted against Tigran Avinyan’s candidacy. The “National Progress” party that proposed Haik Maroonyan and Andranik Tevanian’s “Mother Armenia” alliance boycotted the meeting.