Two Opposition Forces Announce Support for Vardan Ghukasyan

The two opposition forces that have surpassed the electoral threshold in the Gjumri City Council elections have announced their support for the opposition candidate who received the most votes.

The "Mother Armenia" bloc, led by Karen Simonian, stated that it is ready to "cast its vote for the opposition group that receives the most votes," and called on the other opposition forces to do the same. "We urge other opposition forces to rise above personal ambitions and begin a dialogue; we are also ready to assume the role of mediator and become the guarantors of any agreements that may be reached," said the bloc's leader, Andranik Tevanyan.

Ruben Mkrtchyan, head of the "My Powerful Community" bloc, also issued a statement declaring, "I am ready to vote for the opposition candidate Vardan Ghukasyan, who received the most votes from the residents of Gjumri, without any preconditions and without claiming any positions, because I promised you when I ran that if I did not win, I would support the opposition candidate with the most votes from Gjumri residents."

It should be noted that according to preliminary election results, the ruling Civil Contract Party is in the lead, while the opposition front-runner is the Communist Party of Armenia, led by former mayor Vardan Ghukasyan. According to preliminary results, the "Our City" bloc led by Martun Grigoryan will also have a seat in the Gjumri City Council, ranking third.