The new mayor, Vartan Ghukasian, had already governed the city from 1999 to 2012. He ran in the March 30 election on the ticket of the Armenian Communist Party (HKK), finishing second with almost 20.7 percent of the vote.
Civil Contract garnered most votes (36.8 percent) but fell well short of an absolute majority in the city council empowered to elect the mayor. The party led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian won only 14 seats in the 33-member council.
The 19 other seats are controlled by the HKK and three other local opposition groups. Two of them led by TV producer Ruben Mkhitarian and businessman Karen Simonian were quick to pledge support for Ghukasian’s mayoral candidacy, citing the need to facilitate eventual regime change in Yerevan.
The fourth opposition contender, the Our City bloc, dragged its feet, reflecting a long-running feud between the extended families of its leader Martun Grigorian and Ghukasian. Amid strong pressure from Yerevan-based opposition leaders and public figures critical of the government, Grigorian reluctantly agreed on April 4 to give Ghukasian the votes needed for his election.
Grigorian, whose bloc got 16 percent of the vote, warned that Ghukasian could be arrested soon because of criminal cases pending against him. The controversial ex-mayor has dismissed the cases as politically motivated and said he is not afraid of going to jail.
The city council voted on Wednesday to elect Ghukasian during its inaugural session boycotted by Civil Contract. In a statement issued earlier in the day, the ruling party’s mayoral candidate, Sarik Minasian, accused the local oppositionists of “extracting votes from the people of Gyumri by deceit” and called for a fresh election.
One of the oppositionists, Mkhitarian, insisted that Armenia’s “state interests” require the election of an opposition mayor in Gyumri.
“From the city of love and creation, we are sending the wind of change to Yerevan,” he wrote on Facebook right after the council vote.
Ghukasian declared, meanwhile, that his opposition allies “will not be ashamed” of their choice. The 64-year-old, who is is due to be sworn in on Saturday, was dogged by scandals and controversies during his 1999-2012 tenure. Critics accused him of leading a clan that controlled much of the local economy. He also faced accusations of violent conduct which he always denied.
Ghukasian narrowly survived an apparent assassination attempt in 2007 when unknown gunmen opened fire on his motorcade, seriously wounding him and killing three of his bodyguards.
The ex-mayor welcomed the “velvet revolution” that brought Pashinian to power in 2018. But he openly supported former President Robert Kocharian and his opposition Hayastan alliance in Armenia’s last parliamentary elections held in 2021.
The March 30 election took place as a result of last October’s mysterious resignations of Gyumri’s previous mayor, Vardges Samsonian and city council members representing a local political bloc led by businessman Samvel Balasanian. The resignations followed criminal charges brought against Balasanian. The latter has rejected the “trumped-up” charges.
