Gyumri council of elders elects Vardan Ghukasyan as mayor

YEREVAN, April 16. /ARKA/. Vardan Ghukasyan, a candidate from the Communist Party of Armenia, has been elected mayor of Gyumri.

Of the 33 members of the new Council of Elders who were present at the first meeting, 18 voted in favor of Ghukasyan’s candidacy, with no votes against.

The “Civil Contract” faction of the Gyumri Council of Elders boycotted the meeting.

Earlier, three opposition forces, the "My City" bloc, the "My Powerful Community" party, and the "Mother Armenia" bloc  had announced their support for Vardan Ghukasyan, the Communist Party’s candidate.

About the elections in Gyumri

According to the results of the snap elections to the Gyumri Council of Elders held on March 30, the ruling Civil Contract party — whose list was led by mayoral candidate Sarik Minasyan — received 14 mandates. Four other parties (or blocs) also crossed the electoral threshold:

• Communist Party of Armenia (Vardan Ghukasyan) – 8 mandates
• "Our City" bloc (Martun Grigoryan) – 6 mandates
• "My Mighty Community" party (Ruben Mkhitaryan) – 3 mandates
• "Mother Armenia" bloc (Karen Simonyan) – 2 mandates

Immediately after the elections, "My Mighty Community" and "Mother Armenia" announced their support for Ghukasyan, as the candidate from the party that came in second. They called on the rest of the opposition to join them. A few days later, on April 4, Martun Grigoryan announced that the "Our City" bloc would also support Vardan Ghukasyan “without any conditions, expectations, or agreements.”