“Yerevan City Council will be dissolved in accordance with the law”, Head of “Yelq” faction David Khazhakyan told this in an interview. According to him, the law “On Yerevan” does not provide details on how this dissolution should take place: “Because the authors of the law have never thought that such a situation could happen, and the Mayor could resign. However, this is regulated by the Yerevan Local Self Government Law and Electoral Code, which states that the Council is released if there is no nomination within 2 weeks if the candidate is not elected. No candidate is elected, thus this situation cannot last long”.
Although the law does not give details, as Khazhakyan said, they will be the acting Council. According to Khazhakyan, the government will appoint an extraordinary election day after the Council’s release within 2 weeks, which should be held within 30-40 days after the decision. In response to the question whether why “Yelq” did not nominate a mayor candidate, David Khazhakyan assured: “We believe that the residents of Yerevan should decide who the Mayor should be”.
According to Khazhakyan, the elections in 2017 were rigged, and the dissolution of the Council was demanded by three factions. In response to the question whether he rules out that they will cooperate with “Yerkir Tsirani” party in the elections, Khazhakyan said: “I do not know, I cannot rule out anything at this point”. Khazhakyan assured that “Yelq” has not discussed the issue of nominating a candidate yet, and that she cannot be nominated because of her age: “As the leader of the faction, I would like us to participate in the extraordinary elections by an alliance”. “Mrs. Postanjyan will never be our candidate”, assured Khazhakyan.
According to Naira Zohrabyan, “Prosperous Armenia” has already made a political decision to take part in Yerevan Council elections. According to press reports, Naira Zohrabyan may be the mayoral candidate of “Prosperous Armenia”.
In response to the question whether what will be the result of the competition between the “Yelq” and “Prosperous Armenia” in the upcoming elections, Mr. Khazhakyan said: “We are going to take over the city power”.
Nelly BABAYAN
