Wednesday, September 27 2023 23:02

ArmInfo. Former mayor of Yerevan, candidate for mayor from the National Progress party Hayk Marutyan  announced the possibility of cooperation with the Public Voice party  and the Mother Armenia bloc.

He recalled that there are 65 mandates in the Council of Elders, and  they are distributed as follows. "Civil Contract" - 24 mandates,  "National Progress" - 14 mandates, "Mother Armenia" bloc - 12  mandates, "Republic" party - 8 mandates, "Public Voice" party - 7  mandates. Thus, the authorities have only 24 mandates, Marutyan  noted.

"Previously, we made a proposal to the opposition forces, regardless  of political views, to present a united front, elect one candidate,  thus depriving the government of the possibility of reproduction," he  pointed out.  Only "Public Voice" responded to the proposal - with  some reservations - and the "Mother Armenia" bloc - on the condition  that a single candidate would support a change of power in the  country.  The silence of the Republic party speaks of its plans to  act together with the party in power, Marutyan added. But even in  this case, the authorities will have 32 mandates, and they need 33 to  elect their candidate as mayor.

"The Public Voice" is ready to cooperate on the condition that they  are given the position of head of the supervision department,"  Marutyan noted. According to him, without in any way opposing this,  it should be taken into account that this position is considered a  public one, appointment to which can only be by competition, and not  by appointment of the mayor. Consequently, he cannot promise it to  any force, or sign a document granting this position to any political  force - he can only promise that he will announce a competition, and  if a representative of the "Public Voice" party wins, he will be  appointed to this position.  At the same time, he proposed creating  an investigation commission in the Council of Elders, headed by the  Public Voice party.

If, however, these agreements do not work, new elections to be held,  he noted. Then the opposition needs to ensure that a quorum is not  ensured at the first meeting for the mayoral election, for which  purpose 33 members of the opposition factions of the Council of  Elders will not take part in the meeting.  The elections to the  Council of Elders of Yerevan took place on September 17. Based on  their results, a Council of Elders of 65 members will be formed, who,  in turn, will elect the capital's mayor for a period of 5 years.