The daily newspaper "Zhoghovurd" writes:
"With the upcoming elections in Gyumri, the residents of Gyumri will not be able to elect a mayor.
The city will remain without a mayor for a long time, like Vanadzor, because the competition is great, and there is no candidate who will gather a majority or has a chance to form a coalition at this time. The elections to the Gyumri City Council promise to be interesting, but also tense.
As is known, the former mayor of Gyumri Vardan Ghukasyan has already announced his candidacy. Sarik Minasyan, who was appointed by the CP as the mayor's deputy, will be the first number on the CP's electoral list.
NA deputy Martun Grigoryan announced that he will most likely lead the electoral list of the "Homeland" party. The forces of Andranik Tevanyan and Suren Surenyants have announced their participation.
Yesterday it became known that producer Ruben Mkhitaryan has decided to enter the electoral race with interesting teammates.
So, this is still the picture at the moment, which can change, because many have intentions to run, but they don’t know with whom, how. And what does the government think?
Since the situation is tense inside the CP, a wing of the Gyumri party members, the regional government, is working against Sarik Minasyan, so CP candidate Sarik Minasyan must first overcome the competition inside.
Although he was told that “everything will be done, calm down,” in reality there are problems. The appearance of Vardan Ghukasyan is a serious problem for the participants, because he has real votes in Gyumri. No matter how much they try to connect him with the “criminal”, Ghukasyan still has votes.
Martun Grigoryan, who is in acrimonious relations with the Ghukasyans, also has votes. Their enmity has a history of years.
Ruben Mkhitaryan is next on this list, as he is a “freshman” in politics and city life. What will happen to the other forces, who will join whom, is difficult to say.
And this means that Gyumri will not have a mayor for a long time, since it is difficult to imagine which of the above will join the CP, which has become a “shame” in that city. At the same time, it is difficult to say what kind of pressure the authorities will apply to whom, following the example of Mamikon Aslanyan in Vanadzor.
The only thing that is obvious is that Nikol Pashinyan has ordered to criminalize these elections as much as possible, so that the campaign will take that direction. “Do you want more shootings and murders? If you don’t want it, vote for the CP.” This will be the CP’s card.
Details in today’s issue of the “Zhoghovurd” daily.
