Who Will Be the Deputy Mayors of Yerevan? A Decision is Made. "Joghouvourd"

"Joghouvourd" newspaper reports that despite the fact that Tigran Avinyan, the ruling party candidate, received only 33% of the votes in the September 17 elections and was not elected mayor, he was appointed mayor yesterday with the votes of the Council of Elders from the Civil Contract and Republic parties.

The Public Voice party came to ensure a quorum but voted against Tigran Avinyan's candidacy. According to Article 47 of the Law on Local Self-Governance in Yerevan, the mayor assumes his powers on the third calendar day after being elected, at a council meeting convened legally, where he swears an oath to the residents of Yerevan. The next council meeting will be held on November 21 at 10 a.m.

During yesterday's meeting, heads and deputy heads of committees were also appointed. The Republic party received the positions of chairman of the Permanent Committee on Financial and Economic Issues and deputy chairman of the Permanent Committee on Culture, Education, and Social Issues, while the Public Voice party only received the deputy chairman position of the Permanent Committee on Urban Development and Land Use; all other positions belong to the Civil Contract party.

Thus, the question of Tigran Avinyan's deputies, or deputy mayors, remains open, which will be discussed at an extraordinary meeting or during the regular session on November 21. According to the law on local self-governance in Yerevan, the mayor nominates his deputies, while the council appoints or elects them.

According to "Joghouvourd" newspaper's information, Levon Hovhannisyan, the acting mayor and a close associate of Avinyan, is vying for the deputy mayor position. The other deputy mayor position has long been decided, and it will be held by Armen Pambukhchyan, who is known as Prime Minister Pashinyan's "eyes and ears" in the city administration. Notably, Pambukhchyan has been "unemployed" since June 30, following the dissolution of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. After long searches, Pashinyan has long reserved the deputy mayor position for him.

One of the deputy mayors will also be allocated to the Republic party. Currently, there are heated discussions within the party regarding the candidacies of Artak Zeynalyan and Ani Khachatryan. The Civil Contract party plans to assign this position to the force led by Aram Sargsyan, but the Republic party is still deliberating on whether they will propose Zeynalyan or Khachatryan.

The full article is available in today's issue of the newspaper.