Back to the USSR: An opposition deputy on the elections in the Tumanyan community of Armenia`s Lori region

ArmInfo. In the local government elections in the Tumanyan community of Armenia's Lori region, the Civil Contract party received 95.1% of the vote, and Suren Tumanyan, who headed the party list, was re-elected as the head of the community. RA Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure David Khudatyan announced this on his Facebook page.

Mamikon Aslanyan, a member of the RA National Assembly from the Strong Armenia opposition faction and former mayor of Vanadzor, responded to this fact. He titled his Facebook post "Return to the USSR." "Attached are the results of the elections held in the Tumanyan community under the leadership of L. I. Brezhnev in the USSR and Nikol Pashinyan, the "torchbearer of democracy" of the Republic of Armenia. Instead of the political authorities feeling shame and disgrace due to the fact that in such a politically active society as the Armenian one, there was not even a formal alternative candidate (even from one of the sister parties of the "Civil Contract") who would provide at least the semblance of competition, instead, like the Soviet slogan "Catch up and overtake America," the unconditional victory of the "Civil Contract" is declared. Today, due to the prevailing criminal and political threats, people are afraid or even avoid putting forward their candidacies for members of the council of elders. "It is precisely to obtain such a picture that political persecution has been carried out in recent years against members of local government bodies and election winners," the deputy wrote.

As a reminder, local government elections were held in several communities on September 27. In the Tumanyan community, they were held under a proportional electoral system, while in the Lermontovo community of the Lori region, Ferik in the Armavir region, and Arzni in the Kotayk region, they were held under a majoritarian system. At 8:00 a.m., all 14 polling stations set up for the elections opened as scheduled, and the first voters were admitted. Nineteen technical devices were used to register voters at the polling stations. To monitor the elections, the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Armenia accredited three observation missions: the joint observation mission "Akanates", "Free Vote", and the Independent Public Alliance of Observers. Eleven media outlets were accredited to cover the elections.