
ArmInfo. The Armenian authorities needed an external backdrop to support and push the process in Vagharshapat to the necessary point, and then those responsible for anti-state activities against the Church, the nation, and their own society would come into play. This is what Tigran Abrahamyan, a member of the RA National Assembly from the opposition "I Have the Honor" faction, wrote, commenting on RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statement regarding the results of the elections in the enlarged Vagharshapat community.
According to Abrahamyan, Pashinyan, speaking about the electoral success of the ruling Civil Contract party candidate, stated that this would give new impetus to the attack on the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. This scenario, as the opposition member noted, was discussed before the elections, and from the very beginning it was clear that the ruling party needed to take control of the city not in the classical sense, but in the context of actions against the Supreme Patriarchate.
"This was the reason for concentrating all the country's resources on Vagharshapat, as this was not a public initiative, but a stage in an attack on their own country. Although the "State Duma" candidate in Vagharshapat himself avoided speaking out against the Catholicos, the authorities' expectations of him were different. The authorities needed an external backdrop to support and bring the process to the necessary point, and then those responsible for anti-state activities against the Church, the nation, and their own society would come into play," Tigran Abrahamyan emphasized.
As a reminder, Nikol Pashinyan stated on his Facebook page that by their vote, voters demonstrated their unequivocal support for the "Civil Contract" strategy of strengthening statehood, independence, sovereignty, and freedom. "By your vote, you have given an important impetus to the process of liberating the Mother See of Etchmiadzin from Ktrich Nersisyan (the secular name of the Catholicos, which is unacceptable to use in relation to the clergy)," the RA Prime Minister wrote. It should also be noted that the Central Electoral Commission has published preliminary vote count results from all 47 polling stations for the Vagharshapat Council of Elders and Community Headship, based on the counting of 31,508 votes cast at all 47 polling stations. Currently, the Civil Contract party and its mayoral candidate, Argishti Mekhakyan, have received 15,296 votes (48.5%). In second place is the Victory bloc candidate, Sevak Khachatryan, with 10,050 votes (31.9%). In third place is the Mother Armenia bloc and its candidate, Grisha Harutyunyan, with 1,692 votes (5.4%). The remaining parties have received less than 5% of the vote.