Arman Tatoyan, Armenia’s human rights ombudsman, said opposition groups that did well there are being illegally pressured not to install their leaders or allies as community heads.
“That is being done under the guise of so-called criminal and political proceedings,” he said. “Explanations are not given to the public adequately or not given at all. Dangerous interventions are carried out with regard to people directly elected by citizens.”
“Pressure is exerted on elected council members so that they vote ‘accordingly’ during the inaugural sessions of the councils. These practices are fundamentally at odds with democratic norms,” added Tatoyan.
Civil Contract was defeated or failed to win outright in some of the 36 communities across Armenia that elected on December 5 local councils empowered to appoint their mayors. The party led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian suffered its biggest setback in the country’s third largest city of Vanadzor.
A bloc led by former Vanadzor Mayor Mamikon Aslanian practically won the local ballot with about 39 of the vote. Civil Contract came in second with 25 percent.
Aslanian was thus well placed to regain his post during the first session of the new municipal council initially slated for this Friday. However, he was arrested on Wednesday on a string of charges rejected by him and his allies as politically motivated.
Artur Sakunts, a veteran human rights activist based in Vanadzor, described the criminal proceedings launched against Aslanian as “political persecution.” He said the authorities are trying to distort election outcomes in these and other communities.
“In essence, these actions are an attempt to alter the results of popular votes with methods that are obviously not democratic,” Sakunts told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. This will only undermine popular trust in Pashinian’s administration and electoral process, he said.
Pashinian’s loyalists maintain that none of the post-election arrests was politically motivated. They also deny that the authorities are forcing their challengers to back Civil Contract’s mayoral candidates.
In a community comprising the town of Vartenis and surrounding villages, the ruling party won 46 percent of the vote on December 5. But two local blocs challenging it got 37 percent and 16.5 percent respectively, putting them in a position to have a common candidate elected as mayor.
The leaders of those blocs announced such a deal last week. Law-enforcement authorities arrested one of them on corruption charges and raided the other’s home in the following days.
In another town, Talin, a similar power-sharing deal was reached by three other opposition groups that won between them 11 of the 21 seats in the local council.
Karen Grigorian, the leader of one of those parties called Hayk party, broke ranks and voted for Civil Contract’s mayoral candidate on Friday, enabling the latter to take over the local government. Grigorian gave no clear reasons for the move. According to press reports, he has faced strong government pressure in recent days.
Three Talin-based members of another opposition party, Zartonk, were briefly detained by police earlier this week. In a statement issued later on Friday, Zartonk alleged “police and other interventions” in the local race.