Widespread Refusal of Council Mandates and Exit from Election Lists in Gyumri

The number 31 Territorial Election Commission has received applications for the refusal of council mandates or the withdrawal from the electoral list. The process of resigning from the mandates and providing new ones began after special operations conducted by the Gyumri city hall on October 20. Due to arrests, the composition of the council group from the Communist Party has been disrupted. Currently, there is no full-fledged participation in the work of the council.

The issue of mandates has arisen not only in the Communist Party but also in the 'Our City' party alliance. According to Armenpress, due to being in custody, Gevorg Ghukasyan and Sedrak Khachatryan from the Communist Party initially refused their mandates, and they were replaced by the next candidates on the list from the same party, Tigran Avagyan and Samson Elbakyan. However, Tigran Avagyan, who has not yet taken up the mandate, was also arrested and submitted an application to renounce his mandate from detention.

“A certificate has been sent to the community administration indicating that Tigran Avagyan has renounced his mandate. The community administration has sent the certificate to the commission,” noted Tigran Ghazaryan, the chairman of the number 31 TECP, during the extraordinary session of the commission. He informed that Tigran Avagyan's mandate will be transferred to the next candidate on the Communist Party's list, Artyom Mkrtchian, who currently holds the temporary position of head of the municipal economy department of the community administration. However, the local self-government law does not allow combining this position with the mandate, and there is a one-month timeframe for the voting decision.

Gnel Manukyan has also submitted a resignation request, which will be discussed in the next extraordinary session. During that session, the resignation request of Narek Mirzoyan, a council member from the 'Our City' party alliance, will also be addressed since he also submitted a mandate refusal application. The next candidate from that faction, Hasmik Khachatryan, has also submitted a resignation request. The commission will transfer the council member's mandate to the 10th candidate on the alliance's electoral list, Artak Hovsepyan.

To ensure a quorum, the opposition needs 17 mandates. One council session has already been canceled due to the absence of the Civil Contract party representatives. According to the law, if the council does not convene for three months, it will be dissolved, and new elections will be scheduled.