Hayk Marutyan Stripped of Mandate

In a vote with 34 in favor and 0 against, the Yerevan City Council stripped Hayk Marutyan, the head of the 'National Progress' faction, of his mandate. Prior to the voting, Marutyan criticized the ruling Civil Contract party for making decisions at their discretion.

He reminded that in previous councils, there were members who never attended meetings but were not removed. “Why didn’t you remove your dozens of teammates during the previous term who didn’t attend meetings for years because they didn't oppose you? You know whom you removed last time. Lusine Mkhoian, a pregnant woman, was removed because she was against my being dismissed. She didn’t join you,” Marutyan stated.

He emphasized that the current council members are being removed because they demand the resignation of the Civil Contract party. At the same time, he pointed out that it is only possible to confront the “ridiculous” decisions of the ruling party by not attending council meetings.

“I did not come to participate in the disgraceful decision to increase the red line fees by 160,000 drams. I did not come to prevent the fourth section of the circular park from being concreted, or to stop the increase in transport prices...” he said.

Marutyan believes there is another important motive behind the government's desire to strip him of his mandate besides political revenge. “If you remember, I said last year that after increasing the red lines, this government would also raise the price of public transport. As a result, our transport price will be higher than in a number of developed European countries. They want to neutralize me knowing my position on transport price increases, which I clearly expressed 11 years ago,” he said.

After his speech, Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan responded that this statement does not correspond to reality. Following his speech, Hayk Marutyan left the hall.