The Ruling Party is in Shock: 'Hraparak'

The ruling party is in shock after the results of the elections in Gyumri and Parakar. The leadership of the ruling party has been up until dawn, with some at Sarik Minasian's headquarters, others in Yerevan. They have been trying to understand why things turned out this way. Despite being instructed from above to present the defeat as the result of free and fair elections, claiming they did not rig the elections like their predecessors, this has been reported by the newspaper 'Hraparak'.

“However, the ruling party expected to pull in 50+1 votes in Gyumri, as they organized a classical Armenian election with power outages, directing the military, and utilizing administrative levers. In recent months, the government spent so much energy and resources in Gyumri that they had gathered residents from across the country, relatives of Gyumrians, and many others were brought in from other areas to participate in the election. Even 15-20 buses of people were brought in from Javakheti specifically to participate in the vote. This unprecedented activity from the authorities also contributed to the nearly double turnout compared to the 2021 local council elections. If, in 2021, about 26,000 participated, and the threshold was 1,400 votes, this time the party with the least votes, 'Mother Armenia,' gathered 2,800 votes to surpass the 6% threshold,” reported the newspaper.