Tigran Avinyan, the representative of the Civil Contract, a de facto minority in the Yerevan Council of Elders, became the mayor. From the beginning, it was clear that the “Hanrapetutyun” party participated in the council elections not to solve the problems of the capital but to support Pashinyan. The main narrative of that party was purely political. According to that, “Hanrapetutyun” and CC are supporters of Armenia’s sovereignty, while the opposition parties allegedly want to turn our country into a “province of Russia.”
That fairy tale of government propaganda crumbles, facing the bitter reality. In the entire history of the Third Republic of Armenia, the greatest threats to the sovereignty of our state were created during the last five years of Pashinyan’s rule.
But even at the time of Goebbels, it was known that the simpler the lie, the more people believed it. “Jews are monsters because they drink the blood of Christian children.” “The opponents are bad because they are agents of Russia.”
Zeynalyan, who heads the “Hanrapetutyun” list, even found 5 “Kremlin” forces among the parties and alliances participating in the council elections. Such investigative insight befits a prosecutor rather than a human rights defender․ But protection of human rights in Armenia has very unique manifestations. It is not surprising that the former defender of human rights (in my opinion, those who hold that position should be the embodiment of humanism and open-mindedness) is now the head of foreign intelligence.
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Vardan Ghukasyan (“Dog”), the leader of the “Public Voice” party, also repeated the thesis of the government’s propaganda about “Gubernia,” whose position became decisive in the issue of the reproduction of the CC.
Nevertheless, in terms of further developments, the elections of the Yerevan Council of Elders held on September 17 were important because all kinds of intrigues, “reorientations,” etc., do not overshadow the fact that even with its ally, the “Hanrapetuyun” party, the Civil Contract could not gather majority vote. Those results may become a guideline for the rest of the opposition forces.
I think the “National Progress” party led by Hayk Marutyan acted correctly by taking the mandates of the Council of Elders and agreeing to participate in the work of that state body. The people of Yerevan will see how the opposition manifests themselves at the municipal level, affecting their decisions during the next elections. I hope the representatives of “Mother Armenia” will behave similarly.
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
