Extraordinary elections to the Council of Elders will be held in Gyumri. This was announced by the head of the Civil Contract faction Knarik Harutyunyan on social media.
Earlier, Gyumri Mayor Vardges Samsonian, representing the “Balasanyan” bloc, resigned. Together with him, 13 members of the Council of Elders gave up their mandates. This happened after a criminal case was opened against the founder of the bloc, former Mayor Samvel Balasanyan. He is accused of illegal alienation of land plots around the famous “Black Fortress”. One of Balasanyan's sons was recently detained.
“After the legal processes of the last few days, the surrender of mandates by the members of the Council of Elders from the Balasanyan bloc followed in an incomprehensible way, as a result of which the Civil Contract faction became the majority. Some people, speculating on this fact, are making unsuccessful attempts to give political overtones to legal processes and accuse the GD of seizing power in Gyumri,” Harutyunyan wrote.
At the same time, she said, the current composition of the Council of Elders does not reflect the results of the 2021 elections. The party does not intend to nominate a candidate for the mayor's post during the upcoming session in order to avoid upheaval and overcome the crisis of governance.
“Since no one can elect the head of the community without the Civic Contract, there will be extraordinary elections to the Council of Elders,” Harutyunyan wrote.
Earlier, Armenian Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan said that new elections are to be held in Gyumri, which are likely to take place as early as next spring. The ruling party's candidate for mayor is ex-Governor of Shirak, MP Karen Sarukhanyan.
Reprinted from https://am.sputniknews.ru/
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