Vardan Ghukasyan Elected as Mayor of Gyumri

Vardan Ghukasyan has been re-elected as the Mayor of Gyumri. He previously held this position for 13 years. During the elections, Ghukasyan managed to surpass his opposition competitors and received support from them during the voting process. Representatives of the ruling Civil Contract party did not participate in today's session, and Ghukasyan received votes from 18 members of the council.

It should be noted that in the extraordinary elections held on March 30, the 33 council mandates were distributed as follows:

• Sarik Minasian (Civil Contract) - 14 mandates
• Vardan Ghukasyan (Communist Party) - 8 mandates
• Martutun Grigoryan (Our City coalition) - 6 mandates
• Ruben Mkhitaryan (My Strong Community) - 3 mandates
• Karen Simonyan (Mother Armenia coalition) - 2 mandates

The four opposition parties have announced that they will support Vardan Ghukasyan for his election as mayor. While Karen Simonyan and Ruben Mkhitaryan initially declared their support for Ghukasyan, Martutun Grigoryan, after a lengthy silence, issued a statement declaring that he would provide the necessary votes for Ghukasyan but would not take responsibility for future actions. Earlier, before the elections, he had stated that the Civil Contract party wanted to take control of the city through Vardan Ghukasyan.

The inauguration ceremony for the newly elected mayor of Gyumri, Vardan Ghukasyan, is scheduled to take place on April 19, 2025, during the council's swearing-in session. This was announced by Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan at the first session of the newly elected council. He said, 'At that time, let Bishop Ajapahyan come, we will get ready.'