ArmInfo.The terms of office of the Council of Elders of Yerevan have been reduced. The decision on this was taken at a meeting of the Armenian government on August 16.
Representing the project, the Minister of Territorial Administration and Development of Armenia Suren Papikyan noted that the decision of the executive body is based on the second and third paragraphs of Article 128 of the Constitutional Electoral Code, as well as on the provisions of a number of acts, including the law "On Self-Government in Yerevan" and the law "On budgetary system ". The Minister noted that the Central Election Commission, after taking this decision within 30 days, organizes the holding of new elections to the Council of Elders. As Papikyan stressed the CEC is ready for elections both technically, morally, and psychologically. The Armenian government will allocate to the CEC 87.7 million drams for the conduct of the elections.
As Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan noted, elections to the Council of Elders will be the first large-scale elections after the change of regime in the country, and must become truly free and transparent. Falsifiers and pre-election bribers should immediately be held accountable. "I am sure that the will of the people will be fulfilled during these elections," the Armenian government head said.
To recall, after Yerevan mayor Taron Margaryan's resignation on July 9, the Council of Elders of Yerevan decided to convene a meeting on July 16 at which the mayor was to be elected. The only candidate for mayor of Yerevan is the leader of the faction of the "Yerkir Tsirani" party in the Council of Elders of Yerevan Zaruhi Postanjyan. At the meeting, the quorum was not secured, because the day before the faction of the Republican Party of Armenia and the "Yelq" bloc announced that they will neither submit their candidates to the mayor's post, nor attend the meeting. Disruption of the meeting means that early elections to the Council of Elders of Yerevan should be held.