Arush Arushanyan will run in the local self-government elections from the bloc

ArmInfo. The ruling <Civil Contract> party intends to form a bloc called <Solidarity>, which will nominate candidates in local self-government (LSG) elections in a number of regions of the country. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this to journalists during a briefing on September 11.

In particular, he said that in the upcoming elections in Goris (October 25), the <Solidarity> bloc formed by <Civil Contract> and the <Business> party will nominate the current mayor of Goris, Arush Arushanyan, as its candidate. Arushanyan was previously known as an opposition figure who accused the authorities of surrendering Artsakh and demanded their resignation.

As the prime minister noted, the ruling force was prompted to make such a decision by the results of the elections in Goris—at the elections to the National Assembly, where residents voted for <Civil Contract>, and in the LSG elections, where the voting results were the opposite.

<This is a case when, to some extent, we yielded to the will of the people of Goris>, the prime minister said. Given the accusations against <Civil Contract> that the ruling force divides society into <blacks> and <whites>, in a number of communities the authorities will participate in LSG elections through the <Solidarity> bloc.

It should be recalled that Goris Mayor Arush Arushanyan, who in 2021 was included on the electoral list of the "Hayastan" bloc headed by the 2nd President of the Republic of Armenia Robert Kocharyan, was charged with violating the secrecy of voting, obstructing the exercise of the electoral right, abuse of official powers, complicity in illegal business activities, and fraud. He has been under arrest since July 2021. Nevertheless, while in custody, Arush Arushanyan participated in the local self-government elections held on October 17, 2021, and was re-elected head of the Goris community. On March 28, 2022, the Court of First Instance of Syunik Province found the head of the Goris community guilty under Part 1 of Article 308 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia (Abuse of official powers) and, as punishment, deprived him of the right to hold managerial positions in local self-government bodies for a period of up to 5 years. He was also found guilty under Part 2 of Article 322 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia (Arbitrariness committed with the use of violence or the threat of its use) and sentenced to a fine of 700 times the minimum wage. He was also found guilty under Part 3, points 3 and 6 of Article 113 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia (Intentional infliction of moderately serious harm to health) and sentenced to 1 year and 3 months of imprisonment. Taking into account the time spent under arrest, the court set the final term of imprisonment at 6 months and 18 days. At the same time, the court decided not to apply the sentence conditionally, to release him from the courtroom, and to set a probationary period of one and a half years. On May 26, 2022, the prosecution demanded that the acquittal of Goris community head Arush Arushanyan on the charge of voter bribery be overturned.