The extraordinary session of the Council of Elders initiated by the "Civil Agreement" faction of the Gyumri Council of Elders on November 8 did not take place. "Republican", "Zartonk", "Aprelu Yerkir" factions and independent member of the Council of Elders Vardevan Hakobyan did not appear at the session, quorum was not secured.
Knarik Harutyunyan, head of the "Civil Contract" faction of the Council of Aldermen, said in a briefing with journalists that this session was called according to the law.
If the head of the community is not elected within a two-week period, the Government appoints a special election day no earlier than 30 days, and no later than 40 days, writes "Haykakan Chamanak".
"This session was initiated so that within the framework of the law we would go to extraordinary elections, because we believe that the people of Gyumri should decide who will be the head of the community.
Although the "Balasanyan" bloc, as the first and most voted force, has given up its share of responsibility, and now we are the largest faction with the number of mandates, we believe that electing a community leader from the council of elders is not a legitimate process.
I don't rule out that we try to call another session," said Harutyunyan. The leader of the group once again referred to the discussions of bringing the ongoing legal process to the political level and linking them together, stressing that adding political nuances to the legal process is not honest.
"Balasanyan bloc's steps should be interpreted by the bloc itself, but it is also disturbing to me that at this moment they have not made any official statement and have not explained to their voters why they took this step, which, I think, is very dishonest." Harutyunyan said.
When asked if there is no fear that if the "Balasanyan" alliance does not participate in the elections, it will hinder the process, Harutyunyan said that anyone who takes steps against the law during the elections will receive a legal assessment.
"Any political force, if it participates in the election, has one goal: victory. We go to the election, naturally, with the expectation of victory.
Then what will happen, how the votes will be distributed, will be decided by the people of Gyumri, and in the current situation it will be possible to take a position," said Harutyunyan. The question is: why is the CP in a hurry and instead of the previously announced August, going to early elections, does the party want it? Who formed the government in Gyumri 1.5 years before the NA elections, the leader of the faction said. "In many cases, we are accused of speeding up the processes, and at the same time they say: Gyumri is collapsing, why don't you speed it up.
Yes, the city is effectively deprived of representatives of the executive power, and we, being the governing power, need to make urgent decisions in order to save the situation. Considering the interest of Gyumri and Gyumri people, we want to go for early elections so that the city does not collapse, this situation cannot continue for long. Of course, we have not set our mandates and left, but we are aware of our share of responsibility and, based on that, we are ready to go to early elections."
The latter also mentioned that the law does not allow to appoint an acting head of the community, so the only way out is extraordinary elections.