Vardevanyan on the Situation Surrounding the Mayor of Yerevan

Aram Vardevanyan, a member of the 'Armenia' parliamentary faction and a lawyer, writes: 'I propose to view the situation surrounding the position of the Mayor of Yerevan from the perspective of constitutionality and democracy.

1. The bearer of power is the people (this has been repeatedly emphasized by this government). In 2018, the people made a choice regarding a specific candidate for mayor, and today the people are not participating in the process.

2. Democratic legitimacy does not recognize formalism. Formalism means that a council has been elected in a formal sense, but at the moment of election, it was presented with a specific mayoral candidate and requested the vote based on that condition. Without the participation of the people, that same individual is no longer the mayor.

3. In fact, the same force had received 80% support from Yerevan residents in the 2018 municipal elections with the specific candidate for mayor, while in the 2021 elections, under conditions of evident electoral violations and abuse of administrative resources, it received only 40% support. The loss of legitimacy is revealed through a very simple exercise.'