Armen Badalyan: Despite the external demand, the Civil Contract can no longer pursue its policy regarding Artsakh

According to political strategist Armen Badalyan, the ruling power lost in the Yerevan City Council elections, because the rating of the Civil Contract party decreased. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is no longer popular in the capital and his participation in the campaign hindered the victory of Tigran Avinyan, a mayoral candidate.

“If, for example, there was ‘Avinyan’ bloc, which had a good plan for the development of the city, instead of ‘Civil Contract’, then Tigran Avinyan would have received more votes. Nikol Pashinyan’s participation in the campaign lowered his chances,” Armen Badalyan told Alpha News.

According to Badalyan, the low turnout in the elections is caused by several factors.

“It is inappropriate to compare these elections with the 2017 and 2018 elections, because in 2017 there was a money factor, and in 2018 there was a revolutionary euphoria. It is natural that participation would be low because these two factors are no longer there. The third reason is that the programs of the political forces were not attractive. The fourth reason is the public’s indifference, and the fifth is distrust of the elections, because the government has never lost elections before. It has always won. However, this government lost,” Armen Badalyan said.

Armen Badalyan notes that the Country of Living party has gathered few votes, because its candidate for mayor, Mane Tandilyan, does not enjoy the sympathy of Yerevan residents, unlike, for example, former mayor Hayk Marutyan.

According to the political strategist, the Hanrapetutyun party managed to gather a lot of votes because it was supported by the ruling power.

“The Civil Contract realized that it would not get 50% plus 1 vote alone and it needed an ally, and the most likely candidate was the Hanrapetutyun party, a supporter of anti-Russian policy. The problem was that the Civil Contract and the Hanrapetutyun party together would get more votes than the other three forces, so that in case of a redistribution of the votes of the forces that were not part of the City Council, they could get 50% plus 1 of the votes, but even those calculations were not realized and they have one mandate less than the three opposition forces,” Badalyan said.

The expert is sure that the ruling power will do whatever it takes to get that one mandate in order to take over the city government.

“If the Civil Contract does not get that one mandate and the power in Yerevan goes to the opposition, then the phenomenon of Nikol Pashinyan’s invincibility will be broken and in the next elections or during political and judicial processes, people will understand that the party is a losing force.

The Civil Contract and Nikol Pashinyan can no longer say that their policy regarding Artsakh is supported by the people of Yerevan. In fact, the opposition will use this and say that they do not have a mandate to continue their policy regarding Artsakh. Nikol Pashinyan cannot pursue his policy just because foreign clients demand it,” Badalyan added.

It should be noted that the majority of votes have not got any strength in the elections to the Yerevan City Council, which means that the city government will be formed only with a coalition. But, even with a coalition, the ruling force does not manage to take power, because the Civil Contract and the Hanrapetutyun, together, have 32 mandates, while the three opposition forces – 33. The three opposing forces are The National Progress (Hayk Marutyan), The Mother Armenia Bloc (Andranik Tevanyan) and The Public Voice (Artak Galstyan).

The Public Voice party has already announced that it is ready to form a coalition with the National Progress party and the Mother Armenia bloc. They are in favor of Andranik Tevanyan or Hayk Marutyan becoming the mayor, but the supervision service should be under the Public Voice party’s control.

Hayk Marutyan has not responded yet. His supporters wrote on their Facebook pages that they will inform about further steps later. Andranik Tevanyan has announced that coalition discussions are not underway. He has noted that the alliance led by him could help Hayk Marutyan to gather the appropriate number of votes if he shares their agenda for a complete change of power.

The ruling Civil Contract and the Hanrapetutyun parties have not made any announcements yet.