ArmInfo. The united opposition will nominate Krist Marukyan, the No.1 candidate in the Bright Armenia Party list, for the post of Vanadzor Mayor, after the Party took second place after the Republican Party during October 2 elections.
Late in the evening, on October 6, leaders of Bright Armenia Edmon Marukyan and Armenian Rebirth Arthur Baghadasaryan agreed that the Armenian Rebirth Party will support Bright Armenia's candidate for Vanadzor mayor.
Prosperous Armenia Party that took the fourth place in the election to the Vanadzor Elders' Council has also joined the two opposition parties and agreed to support Krist Marukyan's candidature. As a result, the united opposition has all the chances to push through its candidate for Vanadzor Mayor through secret voting at the Elders' Council.
Although the Republican Party won the local elections in Vanadzor, it did not receive sufficient votes to get absolute majority at the Elders' Council and appoint its candidate for mayor. A similar situation is in Gyumri where the Election Code has been interpreted differently by the opposition and the Republican Party that supports Balasanyan Bloc of the incumbent mayor Samvel Balasanyan. It is noteworthy that CEC supports RPA's interpretation giving absolute majority of votes to Balasanyan Bloc.
Eventually, Prosperous Armenia, Armenian Rebirth, and GALA political parties have made a joint statement wherein they say that the incumbent mayor's political party Balasanyan Bloc used administrative resource, gave bribes and made other violations during the local elections. The three parties threaten to boycott the meetings of the Gyumri town council if Balasanyan Bloc receives 17 seats in it.