The session of Yerevan City Council, during which a mayor should have been elected, did not take place today: quorum was not provided. Only “Yerkir Tsirani” faction had come to the session, which was also the only faction having nominated a mayoral candidate, who was Zaruhi Postanjyan.
After the break of the session, when no quorum was provided for the second round, First Deputy Mayor, Kamo Areyan announced: “There is no quorum in the session of Yerevan City Council at the moment. The session is considered invalid.”
After Taron Margaryan’s resignation from the position of Yerevan City Mayor, the factions should have elected a new Mayor at today’s session. The Republican faction and “Yelq” bloc were not present in the session. Zaruhi Postanjyan said that extraordinary procedure was going on at that moment, and “Yerkir Tsirani” was going to be present in all extraordinary procedures: “I, in particular, as a mayoral candidate.”
As reported by Postanjyan, Armenia does not have constitutional laws enabling to pass fair and transparent elections: “It is not a secret that the same Central Electoral Committee [CEC] and the same election system is going to function. Consequently, it would be right to correct all of it and then to start our extraordinary elections. As soon as it has not taken place, our citizens have the right to be represented by me. It is also their call. This is why I represent Yerevan residents.”
Postanjyan states the Parliament is one formed in the result of falsified elections in 2017, current government functions on the ground of the authoritarian Constitution of the former times, which was adopted in 2015: “Subsequently, we do not have all these tools required for free and transparent elections yet. CEC and courts are institutions presenting authoritarianism. In this case, the position of our citizens will be very important. We have not forgotten who CEC members are. We have not forgotten Gagik Harutyunyan, the one who put a seal on the main fraud of the Constitutional Court. If these people were not brought to responsibility by a fair court, then there is a reason to be concerned about.”
According to Zaruhi Postanjyan, the government should set the date of Yerevan City Council in 40 days maximum: Yerevan City Council extraordinary elections should take place between August 26 to 26.
Nelly BABAYAN
