Tense situation in Armenia`s Alaverdi due to dismissal of mayor

ArmInfo. A tense situation has developed in the Armenian city of Alaverdi. On December 5, an  extraordinary meeting of the City Council of Elders was convened, which was attended by 14 of the 27 council members, of which 13 were members of the Civil Contract faction, and another one is Simon  Zakharov, who left the ranks of the Country of Living faction and became <independent> member.

Members of the Council voted unanimously and expressed a vote of no confidence in Arkady Tamazyan, a member of the Country of Living faction, after which David Ghumashyan was elected mayor. This decision of the council caused dissatisfaction of the city's residents, who began to gather in front of the city administration building, organizing a protest, not allowing members of the faction to leave the building.

Protesters are demanding new elections. The entrance to the  municipality is controlled by a large group of police officers.   Citizens sent diapers to members of the Civil Contract faction to  show that they were afraid to go down and look people in the eyes.   "Enjoy," said one of the protesters.

In turn, former mayor of Alaverdi, Arkady Tamazyan, called on the  protesters to disperse and allow members of the Civil Contract  faction in the Council of Elders to leave the city hall building.   "Everything will be settled, please leave, there is no point in  staying here anymore, we'll get into some kind of trouble in vain, go  home," he said. And the people who gathered at the city hall advised  the ex-mayor not to lose heart. Arkady Tamazyan considers the  decision to dismiss him illegal and intends to appeal his impeachment  in court. He noted that the meeting of the Council of Elders was  convened in violation of the law. "If a meeting was convened by law,  then everyone was obliged to wait for the head of the community.   However, having broken down the doors, people burst into the meeting  room without waiting for the mayor to arrive," said Tamazyan. The  head of the community does not intend to pack up his things from his  office and leave, he will wait for the court's decision. The mayor  said that he had previously appealed to the government, and to the  regional administration, reporting that for three months it had not  been possible to convene a meeting of the Council of Elders. He  proposed early elections, but there has still been no response. As a  result of the intervention of law enforcement officers, a number of  protesters were detained using brute force. Between the "red berets"  and a scuffle broke out between citizens. In connection with the  incident, the Mother Armenia opposition bloc  issued a statement,  which, in particular, notes: "Nikol Pashinyan (RA Prime Minister,  ed., note), speaking about democracy, protection of human rights and  the rule of law, participated in anti-civil actions in the Alaverdi  community through the Civil Contract party he led.

This party illegally stole the votes of the community residents,  deprived the mayor of the coalition of the Country of Living and  Armenian National Congress parties of power and appointed its own  candidate as the head of the community. Thus, the elections held in  Alaverdi on September 25, 2022 were revised with anti- democratic  logic. The process of appointing a candidate from the ruling party  was preceded and accompanied by gross violations of the law and moral  norms, committed under the direct leadership of an MP from this  party.  The meeting to seize power was held with gross procedural  violations. The police and the Ministry of Emergency Situations took  an active part in all this" the statement reads. The statement  emphasizes that what happened in Alaverdi is a "velvet" usurpation of  power carried out through power bodies. The peculiarity of  Pashinyan's elections is that electoral fraud is committed not only  in the pre-election phase, but also in the post-election processes.   Pashinyan resorted to this method after local government elections in  Vanadzor, Yerevan and other communities.  After the defeat of the  party in power in local elections, post-election lawlessness,  backroom pressure deals and even arrests followed, depriving society  of the right to have a leader who was not a member of the Civil  Contract. Thanks to this course of action, the ruling party turned  into a gang of war criminals.  Considering these realities, as well  as the internal and external destructive policies of this force, its  removal from power is the number one task for the security and  existence of our country, as well as for ensuring democratic order,"  the statement says.