Civil Contract Leads in Preliminary Results of Gyumri Elections; Political Coalitions Needed to Elect Mayor

GYUMRI — The Central Electoral Commission has summarized the results of the snap city council elections in Gyumri.

Out of 109,493 eligible voters across 81 polling stations, 46,680 citizens cast their votes. According to data provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the total number of eligible voters in Gyumri is 111,236.

According to preliminary results, the ruling Civil Contract Party (mayoral candidate: Sarik Minasyan) is in the lead with 16,938 votes, or 36.80% of the total. In second place is the Communist Party of Armenia with 9,537 votes (20.71%) and mayoral candidate Vardan Ghukasyan. Third is the “Mer Qaghaq” (Our City) alliance with 7,296 votes (15.85%) and mayoral candidate Martun Grigoryan.

In fourth place is the “Im Hzor Hamaynk” (My Strong Community) party (candidate: Ruben Mkhitaryan) with 3,659 votes (7.94%). Fifth is the “Mother Armenia” Alliance (candidate: Karen Simonyan) with 2,844 votes (6.18%).

Other parties and their results are: Euroalliance: 2,071 votes (4.50%), Country to Live Party: 1,658 votes (3.60%), Democratic Alternative Party: 1,387 votes (3.01%) and Socialist Workers’ Party of Armenia: 642 votes (1.39%).

Based on the preliminary results, five political forces have passed the electoral threshold and will have seats on the city council:

• Civil Contract Party
• Communist Party of Armenia
• “Our City” Alliance
• My Strong Community Party
• Mother Armenia Alliance

According to Armenia’s Electoral Code, the threshold to enter local councils is 4% for political parties and 6% for alliances.

Since no single political force secured more than 50% of the vote, a coalition will be required to elect the city mayor. Notably, four of the five political forces that passed the threshold are opposition groups, and their leaders have stated during the campaign that they do not intend to form a coalition with Civil Contract.

If the opposition forces unite, Gyumri could have an opposition mayor.