Armen Badalyan: A snap election will upset the apple cart

The situation in the country, developed as a result of the military aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan, makes it hard to predict the outcome of the elections to the Yerevan City Council, political strategist Armen Badalyan said in an interview with Alpha News.

The first session of the newly formed Yerevan City Council is scheduled on October 10, where the fate of the capital’s leadership will be decided. If three political forces such as Mother Armenia (12 mandates), Public Voice (7 mandates) and National Progress (14 mandates) unite, the opposition will succeed in dethroning Nikol Pashinyan’s party from the mayor’s seat, but they still have not come to an agreement on this issue.

Hayk Marutyan, who received the most votes from the opposition, offered to support him as a mayoral candidate at the upcoming council meeting, however, without any written agreement, while Vardan Ghukasyan, the leader of the Public Voice party insisted that he needs written guarantees to ensure that the oversight service of the municipality is under the jurisdiction of his faction. Marutyan was not against it, but he noted that according to the law, this position was optional.

According to the political strategist, there is an alternative to solve the issue, it is possible to appoint a temporary acting supervisor. The law allows, based on various circumstances, to appoint a temporary official to that post for a period of up to one year. There have already been such cases.
According to Badalyan, the ball is now in the court of Hayk Marutyan, the mayoral candidate of the National Progress party. Should he agree and appoint the member of the Public Voice as the temporary supervisor or should he go for a snap election?

“The former mayor’s answer to the Public Voice was evasive, because if they go for a new election, no one can predict the outcome. The ruling party may get even less votes. Moreover, if there is a new election, then the blame will be laid on Marutyan, because, thus, he will act as an indirect ally of the ruling political force. It is likely that the Mother Armenia and the Public Voice will get more votes,” Badalyan noted.

According to him, the votes of the Public Voice may increase significantly, as a sign of protest against the political field. It is possible that the votes of the Hanrapetutyun Party will also increase due to the anti-Russian sentiments prevailing in Yerevan.

“It is also quite possible that the Country of Living party will overcome the threshold if it changes its leader, which in turn will change the entire structure of the city government,” Badalyan said.

He also mentioned that the ruling power will probably steal votes from Marutyan’s faction, as a result of which the Civil Contract candidate will become mayor, but Tigran Avinyan will be vulnerable as a politician, because this outcome will have nothing to do with his own efforts.