Starting to Undermine the Situation Arising from the Elections of Gyumri Residents: Hakobyan

In Gyumri, elections have taken place, the council has been formed, a mayor has been elected, and it seemed that they had started working. However, the worst predictions are being confirmed, as the authorities are trying to find, or have found, ways to gradually undermine the situation that results from the elections of the residents of Gyumri. This was stated by Sos Hakobyan, press secretary and lawyer of the "Homeland" party, during a conversation with reporters.

“On April 21, Karen Badalyan from the 6-member faction "Our City" wrote a letter stating that due to his transition to another job, he cannot continue his position as a council member and submitted his resignation. According to the procedure established by law, the community leader prepared a record on the termination of powers the very next day, on April 22. The next step is that the community leader sends the record to the territorial electoral commission, which in turn prepares a record about this. After that, the next number on the list should become a council member. There is a seven-day period, within which the head of the community should prepare and provide the record confirming that the authority has been terminated. Now, according to our calculations, he has not done this until today, and this seven-day period has elapsed. Two days after his resignation, Karen Badalyan, under unknown circumstances, wrote again asking to disregard his resignation, stating that he wishes to continue his position as a council member and wants to leave the "Our City" faction. This indicates that some interference has occurred,” he stated.

When asked if this meant that there was pressure from the ruling party to strengthen their positions in the Gyumri council by stealing a mandate, Hakobyan replied, “Definitely, there has been an influence on the person's will, and this can be considered an act of violence in this regard. Because this does not happen: a person refuses their mandate on April 21, gives some reasons and just two days later says, ‘No, I changed my mind.’ Moreover, he declares that he wants to be an independent member of the council. An independent member of the council who has been torn from the opposition can serve only one interest, and that is the interest of the authorities. This interference is essentially an attempt to distort and change the political picture formed as a result of the vote in Gyumri.”

According to the lawyer, such a writing style was predictable: “I do not rule out that tomorrow or the day after, some other council members may be arrested, taken into custody, threatened with criminal cases, and they will try to resolve the issue concerning the differences of five or six or more mandates and steal the power here as well.”