Mother Armenia faction condemns Armenian premier`s attacks on Gyumri  mayor 

ArmInfo.The Mother Armenia opposition faction of the Gyumri Council of Elders condemned Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's attacks on Vardan Ghukasyan, the mayor of the country's second-largest city. This was stated in a  statement released by the faction to ArmInfo.

The political party called the hate speech against the mayor  unacceptable and assessed it as an attempt to destroy the local  self-government system. Thus, as Mother Armenia noted, an attempt is  being made to ignore the vote of the Gyumri residents, the goal of  which was to remove the ruling Civil Contract party from power and  form a new one, a move supported by the opposition faction.

"Nikol Pashinyan clearly took the Civil Contract party's defeat in  the last elections in Gyumri very hard and is trying to reverse the  results. Regardless of his opinion of the Gyumri mayor, the rule of  law must be a priority for every political force. He should not be  subject to arbitrary decisions or persecution," Mother Armenia  concluded.

As a reminder, snap elections to the Gyumri Council of Elders were  held on March 30 of this year. The ruling Civil Contract party  received the most votes (35.47%), but this percentage was not enough  for the ruling party's candidate, Sarik Minasyan, to become mayor of  the city. The united opposition decided to field a single candidate,  Vardan Ghukasyan of the Communist Party, who received 18.41%.