Avetisian has filled in for Mayor Vartan Ghukasian ever since the latter was arrested last October on corruption charges rejected by him as politically motivated. Ghukasian was moved to house arrest on Friday despite new criminal charges levelled against him and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s calls for a snap municipal election in Armenia’s second largest city.
The surprise development led some media commentators speculate that Ghukasian cut a secret deal with Pashinian whereby the ruling Civil Contract party will seize control of the municipal administration or at least manage to force the fresh election in Gyumri. They said this could be done through Avetisian’s resignation and transfer to the National Assembly which would make it hard for the opposition-controlled city council to install Ghukasian’s new temporary replacement.
Avetisian, who is also Ghukasian’s son-in-law, dismissed those suggestions over the weekend. He went on to inform the Central Election Commission that he will not be joining the new parliament. Avetisian gave no reason for the decision, which means that he will almost certainly keep his current job.
Avetisian won the parliament seat after running in the June 7 parliamentary elections on the ticket of billionaire Samvel Karapetian’s Strong Armenia alliance. Ghukasian’s political faction teamed up with the alliance earlier this year.
The Gyumri council appointed Ghukasian as mayor in April 2025 after four local opposition groups collectively defeated Civil Contract in the last local election. Armenian opposition leaders claim that Pashinian ordered the outspoken mayor’s prosecution in a bid to overturn the election results. The premier has denied this.