Sat Apr 29 2017 · 5 min read

Yerevan City Elections: Everything You Need to Know

18191117 10158554681085285 625097325 n
The symbolic key to the city of Yerevan on Northern Avenue.

“ There are 841,973 registered voters in Yerevan, constituting approximately 35 percent of the entire electorate of the country. Yerevan has 1,076,500 residents. ”

Residents of Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia will be heading to the polls on May 14 to elect a new City Council (Council of Elders) for a four year term. Only three political forces are running for the 65-seat council that will be elected by a party-list proportional representation system. They include the Republican Party of Armenia, the opposition Yelq Bloc and the newly-formed Yerkir Tsirani Party. The majority of political parties in Armenia, including those who ran for parliamentary elections on April 2, opted not to participate in these elections.

The election campaign was launched on April 21 and will run through May 12.

During the previous Yerevan City Council elections (May 2013), the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) won 56 percent of the votes (42 seats); Prosperous Armenia 23 percent (17 seats) and Barev Yerevan Bloc won 8 percent (six seats). With a clear majority, the RPA appointed Taron Margaryan as Mayor of Yerevan.

At that time, seven political parties took part in the race: the RPA. Barev Yerevan Bloc, Armenian National Congress, Prosperous Armenia, Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Rule of Law and Arakelutyun Party.

Following the declaration of independence in 1991, the Mayor of Yerevan was appointed by the country’s president. However, a Referendum on a package of Constitutional amendments in 2005, determined that “the peculiarities of local self-government and formation of local self-government bodies in the City of Yerevan shall be defined by the law. A law may provide for either direct or indirect elections of the Mayor of Yerevan.”

Hence, on May 31, 2009, the first elections in Yerevan took place where the Republican Party of Armenia won a majority and their candidate Gagik Beglaryan was elected as mayor. Beglaryan was later forced to resign just over a year later following an assault on an official (from the President’s protocol department) during a concert in the capital in December, 2010. 

Yerevan Facts

The current mayor of Yerevan is RPA member Taron Margaryan, who was number two on that party's national electoral list for the April 2 parliamentary election.

There are 841,973 registered voters in Yerevan, constituting approximately 35 percent of the entire electorate of the country.

Yerevan is the financial, educational and cultural center and a major regional transportation hub of the country. It accounts for 42.1 percent of the country’s GDP and has 1,076,500 residents. The capital has a diversified economy and accounts for 53.0 percent of the construction sector, 82.6 percent of retail trade, 85.5 percent of services, 77.6 percent of residential buildings and 33.2 percent of the hotel industry.

Yerevan Municipality’s annual budget for 2017 is just over 185 million USD. 

Number of candidates

Yelq Bloc - 63

Yerkir Tsirani -  50 

Republican Party of Armenia - 195

 

Percentage of female candidates 

Yelq Bloc - 33%

Yerkir Tsirani -  57% 

Republican Party of Armenia - 25%

 

 

 

 

The Parties in the Running

 

tumblr mfmvyfp8rz1s0y2kpo1 1280

The YELQ Bloc is comprised of three political parties: Civil Contract, Republic Party and Bright Armenia. The three leaders of the parties (Nikol Pashinyan, Aram Sargsyan and Edmon Marukyan respectively) signed a memorandum of understanding in 2016 agreeing to participate as a bloc in the parliamentary election. During the parliamentary election of April 2, they received 7.78 percent of the vote, securing nine seats in parliament. 

The top ten names on the bloc’s list:

Nikol Pashinyan - Member of Parliament

Arayik Harutyunyan - Yerevan State University professor

Davit Khajakian - Synopsis Armenia

Anahit Bakhshyan - National Education Institute

Ashot Atyan - Unemployed

Alen Simonyan - Unemployed

Ani Khachatryan- Unemployed

Ani Smsonyan - LHK Press Secretary

Tigran Avinyan - Director, Igityan Company

Sergey Ghahramanyan - Synopsis Armenia 

110093

Campaign Slogan: Dear Yerevan, There is a Way Out 

23 of the 63 candidates on the Yelq list are unemployed, there are eight non-partisan candidates, 29 are memebers of the Civil Contract Party, 17 from Bright Armenia, eight are from the Republic Party. 

Yerkir Tsirani (Country of Apricot) registered officially as a political party just ahead of the Yerevan City Elections. Its leader, Zaruhi Postanjyan was a former member of the Heritage Party of Armenia and a Member of Parliament since 2007. 

The top ten on the party's list:  

Zaruhi Postanjyan - Member of Parliament

Mnatsakan Parakshiev - Businessman

Sona Aghekyan - Teacher

Hayk Petrosyan - Programmer

Marina Khachatryan - Doctor

Karapet Aghajanyan - Lawyer

Tigran Pashabezyan - Historian

Lilia Dilanyan - Lecturer

Vahan Hamazaspyan - Computer Scientist

Gayane Davtyan - Lecturer

zaruhi 5

Campaign Slogan: Human Warmth to the City of the Sun 

14 of the 50 candidates on the Yerkir Tsirani list are non-partisan, all remaining candidates are members of the newly registered Yerkir Tsirani Party. The party listed its candidates' professions and not place and/or position of employment.  

Republican Party of Armenia has been effectively ruling the country since 1999. It won a majority in the April 2 parliamentary elections with over 49 percent of the vote and is set to rule the country for the next five years.

The top ten names on the party's list:

Taron Margaryan - Mayor of Yerevan

Smbad Lputyan - Director, Armenia’s Chess Academy, City Councillor

Hovik Musayelyan - Synopsis Armenia

Astghik Gevorgyan - Armenian Journalists Union

Ara Yernjakyan - Yerevan State Chamber Theater

Martin Vardazaryan - Komitas State Conservatory

Levon Igityan - National Center of Aesthetics

Anna Asatryan - National Academy of Sciences

Yervand Erzingyan - Armenia’s Public Television Symphonic Orchestra

Mikael Poghosyan - Team Productions

d7100f2401169187c7036d3a0c39eaad31ae9ba8

Campaign Slogan: For Yerevan 

24 out of the 195 candidates on the Republican list are unemployed. 41 are non-partisan, five are from the United National Party, five from the Christian Democrat Party and two from the Constitutional Law Unity Party. 142 are members of the Republican Party of Armenia. 

All rights reserved by EVN Report
Developed by Gugas Team