Vanadzor City Council Sessions Banned Until July

According to the newspaper "Hraparak", the elections on December 5 did not solve the issue of the mayor of Vanadzor, as the authorities have held Mamikon Aslanyan hostage for several months under a fabricated political article. The ''Luysavor Armenia'' party, which failed to overcome the electoral threshold, is supporting legal claims to prevent a new government from being elected in Vanadzor, thus halting council sessions and preventing the election of a community leader.

It should be noted that Luysavor Armenia appealed to the administrative court to annul the elections for the mayor of Vanadzor or to grant them their mandates, but the court rejected Luysavor Armenia's petition, after which an appeal was filed.

The appeal was denied, but the appellate court confirmed that a separate session should be convened to discuss the lifting of the ban on council meetings. This session has been scheduled for July.

Clearly, the administration has effectively paralyzed the governance of Vanadzor since the ruling party lost in the third-largest city of Armenia. There are reports that authorities are doing everything possible to dissolve the Vanadzor council and hold new elections.

However, Arthur Ohanyan, a member of the council elected from the Aslanyan coalition, told us yesterday that there are no grounds for dissolving the council. "Let’s not forget that Luysavor Armenia applied to the Court of Cassation after the appeal was denied; if the Court decides, there cannot be any annulments. This is a legally formed council; why should it be dissolved? We held a session on December 24, appointed a representative, which the court duly accepted. Who says we haven’t had a session?" he said.

For more details, see today’s issue of the newspaper.