Will Vardan Ghukasyan make a deal with the government?:

ArmInfo. Vardan Ghukasyan, the Communist Party candidate for mayor of Gyumri, Armenia's second largest city, assures that he will not, under any circumstances, make  a deal with the ruling party <Civil Contract>, even out of fear of  being convicted. He made this statement at a press conference on  March 31.

In general, Ghukasyan considers the election results to be quite  good. <The entire state apparatus and its resources worked against  us>, he said.  As for post-election developments, the former mayor of  Gyumri (he served as mayor of the city from 1999 to 2021) expressed  hope that all pre-election agreements will remain in force. <For  example, I said that if someone from the opposition gets more votes,  I will join him without expecting any position. I expect the same  from others>, - he noted. As Ghukasyan pointed out, currently two  opposition forces,  My Mighty Community party (represented by Ruben  Mkhitaryan) and the Mother Armenia bloc (represented Karen Simonyan)  have expressed their willingness to support his candidacy in the city  mayoral elections. "I hope that the candidate from the Our City bloc  of parties, Martun Grigoryan, will do the same," he said.

According to him, he will support any "healthy" program of the  candidates who supported him, and will make many concessions. At the  same time, Ghukasyan pointed out that he is not ready to give up the  position of vice-mayor. "If I am detained, he (the vice-mayor) will  automatically become the mayor," he explained.  When asked if he was  ready to support the candidacy of another opposition candidate to  prevent the ruling party's candidate from winning, Ghukasyan first  called for waiting for Martun Grigoryan's statement, and then stated  that he was prepared to do anything for the sake of his people.  However, Vardan Ghukasyan believes that Martun Grigoryan will  ultimately make the right decision.