ArmInfo.Civil Contract Party Head Nikol Pashinyan is amazed at the fact that the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) was able to win the local elections in Gyumri and Vanadzor.
Pashinyan told reporters on October 3 that during the meetings with the voters he noticed public discontent and opposition sentiments in those cities, however, the election results have shown quite the opposite. "There are some reports on electoral bribery, but we have no facts. Consequently, I cannot make such statements," he said, noting that his party will analyze the situation and then will issue a statement.
Pashinyan said that he is not going to cooperate with 90% of the political forces, which ran in the local elections. He stressed that his party claims to be the only institutional opposition. "The failure at these elections has demonstrated that the opposition should quit its traditional methods of fight and should resort to new and creative methods," he noted.
To note, the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) has swept the Sunday elections to the local self-government. The candidates supported by the Republican Party won in all the large communities, except some villages where ARF Dashnaktsutyun and Prosperous Armenia representatives were elected to the Elders' Councils. The situation was interesting in the second and third largest towns - Gyumri and Vanadzor. Balasanyan Bloc led by the incumbent mayor Samvel Balasanyan and backed by RPA won in Gyumri. The candidates of Prosperous Armenia Party, Armenian Renaissance Party and newly established Gala Party proved on the second, third, and fourth places. In Vanadzor, there was a severe fight between RPA and the newly established Bright Armenia Party led by Edmon Marukyan. RPA won with prevalence of several thousand of votes. Armenian Renaissance the party list of which was led by a local authority Arkady Peleshyan took the third place. The remaining parties received less than 2000 votes.