Tuesday, January 4, 2022
Armenian Authorities Block Inauguration Of Opposition Mayor
• Susan Badalian
Armenia - Aharon Khachatrian is sworn in as mayor of Vartenis outside the
municipal administration building cordoned off by police, January 4, 2022.
Police cordoned off the municipal administration building in Vartenis on Tuesday
to prevent a local opposition figure from taking over as mayor of the eastern
Armenian town and nearby villages.
The mostly rural community has been in turmoil since the December 5 election of
a local council empowered to appoint its mayor. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
Civil Contract party garnered most votes but fell short of an overall majority
in the 27-member council, winning only 13 seats there.
The remaining 14 seats were won by two local opposition blocs. They reached a
power-sharing deal and nominated one of their leaders, Aharon Khachatrian, for
the post of community head.
The 14 opposition members of the new Vartenis council elected Khachatrian as
mayor during its inaugural session held on December 30. Civil Contract members
led by Aram Melkonian, Vartenis’s incumbent mayor seeking reelection, tried to
disrupt the session before walking out in protest.
Melkonian went on to ask Armenia’s Administrative Court to annul the appointment
of the new mayor, saying that it was “illegal.” The opposition forces dismissed
the allegation and scheduled Khachatrian’s inauguration for Monday.
Armenia - Vartenis Mayor Aram Melkonian tries to block the first session of the
new local council controlled by opposition groups, December 30, 2021.
Scores of police officers deployed at the entrance to the local government
building did not allow the council majority to enter it to hold the swearing-in
ceremony. Local police chiefs told the oppositionists that Khachatrian cannot
start performing his duties because of the lawsuit filed by the ruling party.
The ban angered Khachatrian’s supporters who gathered outside the building. “One
gets the impression that the Civil Contract party has started a civil war
against residents of Vartenis,” said one of them.
A lawyer representing Khachatrian insisted that council members are legally
allowed to enter the building regardless of the court case. “The police are
overstepping their powers,” he said.
Khachatrian had to take an oath of office in the building’s courtyard. His
loyalists admitted that he will not be able to take office before a court
verdict.
Meanwhile, Melkonian said that the police acted on his orders. “I personally
made sure that this buffoonery doesn’t take place,” the incumbent mayor told
reporters.
Melkonian said that the two opposition forces must not be allowed to run the
community comprising Vartenis and two dozen villages because they “deceived”
voters. He did not elaborate.
On Monday, the ruling party’s candidate called on all newly elected council
members to resign and pave the way for a repeat election.
“The council held a session and elected a community head. What should we annul
after that?” countered Davit Shahnazarian of the United Vartenis bloc allied to
Khachatrian’s alliance.
United Vartenis’s leader was arrested on corruption charges shortly after the
power-sharing deal cut by the two groups. Opposition politicians and human
rights campaigners in Yerevan condemned his arrest, saying that it is part of a
government crackdown on political figures who defeated Pashinian’s party in some
of the three dozen communities across Armenia that elected their local councils
on December 5.
Armenia - Opposition supporters hold pictures of former Vanadzor Mayor Mamikon
Aslanian and other arrested opposition members during a demonstration in
Yerevan, December 17, 2021.
Arman Tatoyan, the country’s human rights ombudsman, charged on December 17 that
opposition groups that did well there are being illegally pressured not to
install their leaders or allies as community heads.
“These practices are fundamentally at odds with democratic norms,” said Tatoyan.
Pashinian’s political allies maintain that neither these nor any other
post-election criminal cases are politically motivated.
Pashinian’s party suffered its biggest election setback in Vanadzor, Armenia’s
third largest city. It won only 25 percent of the vote there, compared with 39
percent polled by a local bloc led by former Vanadzor Mayor Mamikon Aslanian.
Aslanian was thus well-placed to regain his post lost in October. But he was
arrested on December 15 on corruption charges rejected by him as politically
motivated.
The Administrative Court blocked the first session of the new Vanadzor council
slated for December 24. It cited an appeal against the local election results
lodged by another party that fared poorly in the ballot.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2022 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.