Gyumri heading for regime change? The city is preparing for local elections

The local elections of Gyumri will take place on October 17. Other than the newly formed Gyumri Can bloc, no other political force has said it would participate in the election. The ruling party has not yet made a political decision on the candidate. Many of the CP members state in unofficial conversations that the mayoral candidate would be Shirak governor Hovhannes Harutyunyan.

Former MP Vardan Grigoryan told Factor.am that the Prosperous Armenia party Council has not yet made a decision.

Former National Assembly member Martun Grigoryan also said that he does not have a clear answer about his participation in the local elections. During the snap parliamentary elections he was the 8th in the list of the I Have Honor bloc, but the first seven of the list had passed to the parliament.

According to the information circulating in Gyumri, the incumbent mayor Samvel Balasanyan does not intend to participate in the elections. It is noteworthy that former Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Suren Papikyan praised Samvel Balasanyan’s performance during his visit to Gyumri on July 13.  Balasanyan’s spokesperson Sona Arakelyan told us that the mayor is on vacation and will voice his position on participation after he’s back.

We were unable to get information about the participation of the Bright Armenia party; former NA deputy Sarik Minasyan did not answer our phone calls.

There is no clear information yet about the participation of the Armenia bloc․ Rumors are that either Karapet Poghosyan or Hovhannes Asoyan will be the mayoral candidate. During the early parliamentary elections, they headed the Gyumri headquarters of the Armenia bloc.