Old Electoral System Prevails: Daniel Ioannisyan

Democracy has not triumphed in Abovyan. This was stated by Daniel Ioannisyan, the head of the 'Civic Initiative' NGO, on his Facebook page.

“In Abovyan and many other cities, the old electoral system is winning (technically, the winner can come from different political teams). This system does not encourage competition of ideas and programs. Democracy is not merely about not falsifying votes; it is a broader concept. Regardless of the name of the winning candidate, democracy, unfortunately for all of us, has not triumphed in Abovyan. These problems will deepen as long as deep electoral reforms are not implemented in Armenia,” he wrote.

It is worth noting that according to preliminary results from the elections held on June 9 in Abovyan, the current mayor, Vahagn Gevorgyan, has emerged victorious. From the five candidates put forward, Vahagn Gevorgyan received 8,453 votes, while his main competitor, the candidate from the 'Civil Contract' party, Grigor Gulyan, received 8,058 votes. Sassun Grigoryan came in third with only 731 votes, followed by Manuk Mkrtchyan with 435 votes in fourth place, and Arthur Ghazaryan in fifth place with 139 votes. A total of 360 ballots were invalidated.