Elections in Parakar and Gyumri demonstrate that it is not the party that wins, but the personality - political strategist

ArmInfo. The elections for the Council of Elders in Gyumri and Parakar highlighted the importance of the candidate's personality  over the  political party in determining success. Political strategist Armen Badalyan stated in an interview with an ArmInfo correspondent, while commenting on the results of the snap elections for the Councils of Elders of the Gyumri and Parakar communities held on March 30.

The expert noted that even though the elections were local, their results varied significantly. Badalyan pointed out the success of the opposition in Parakar, despite its insignificant representation. According to him, the voters in the enlarged community of Parakar supported  Volodya Grigoryan over the Unity bloc.

 "These elections have shown that a candidate's personal qualities are more important to voters than their party affiliation. In the regions, voting is often based on the principle of "a good person or not", rather than support for a specific party. That is why I always say: do not compare the elections in Gyumri with the results of  national elections. Despite Gyumri being the second largest city in Armenia, the human factor remains paramount here," the expert explained.

In this vein, Badalyan stated that in Gyumri, the second place with 8 mandates was not taken  by the Communist Party of Armenia, but by its leader Vardan Ghukasyan. According to the expert, if Ghukasyan had run under a different mandate, he would still have been able to collect the same number of votes.  Touching upon the fact that the "European Alliance" bloc gained only 4.5% of the votes in conditions when the Armenian authorities declare the country's European aspirations, the expert expressed the conviction that there are not many supporters of the Western orientation among the residents of Gyumri.The expert also believes that the neutralization of the leader of the "DOK" party Vardan Ghukasyan, who is very popular among the residents of Gyumri, had a serious impact on the election results.

Touching upon the election process itself, the expert noted that in Gyumri the authorities used more traditional technologies from the past to falsify elections, such as turning off the lights throughout the city.  According to him, this indicates the total use of administrative resources. "If we subtract the votes of the Civil Contract party, which were obtained through the use of administrative resource, the electorate of Gyumri will be divided into three groups: supporters of Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, supporters of the third President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, and supporters of the second President of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan. In fact, these three groups have equal influence in Gyumri. If the Yerevan scenario is not repeated in Gyumri (the Public Voice and Republic parties ensured a quorum with their participation and contributed to the election of Tigran Avinyan as mayor - ed.), the opposition has the opportunity to organize an alternative government. In this case, Vardan Ghukasyan, who received the most votes, may become mayor, provided that an opposition coalition is formed. Two parties have already announced their support for the Communist Party with Ghukasyan - the Mother Armenia Opposition Bloc, led by Andranik Tevanyan (candidate Karen Simonyan), and the "My Mighty Homeland" Party with Ruben Mkhitaryan. We now await  the response of the third party," Badalyan noted.

At the same time, the expert noted that a victory in Gyumri does not mean a final defeat for the government. However, the political strategist explained that it is impossible to foresee  the outcome of the 2026 elections, as the local elections in Gyumri and Parakar cannot be directly compared to the national elections. The expert explained that in their case, geopolitical factors have a significant impact on the outcome of the elections.