2024-07-31 12:55:03
The administration system of Yerevan is in crisis. We have a minority government, which causes problems of legitimacy and governance. Why did it turn out like that and what should be done, the leader of “Mother Armenia” movement Andranik Tevanyan wrote on Facebook.
“Mother Armenia” considered the Yerevan Council of Elders elections as an opportunity for a complete change of power in Armenia. Our minimum task was to prevent the reproduction of the “Civil Agreement” party in the capital, which is possible in 2023. was created as a result of the September 17 election, but in the non-governmental sector, independent of our will, there was no common denominator. As a result, the CPC + “Republic” minority coalition formed a government in Yerevan with the indirect support of the “Public Voice” faction, and elected a CPC mayor.
“Mother Armenia” has been proposing new elections in Yerevan since September of last year. If the mayor was not elected or if the meetings of the Council of Elders were not held for 3 months, then according to the legislation, new elections had to be called. However, due to the behavior of the “Public Voice” faction, both the mayor was elected, and the tactics of boycotting the meetings did not work, and the increases in local taxes and fees were passed.
According to the results of the last elections of the Yerevan Council of Elders, the CPC and its sister party received 32 mandates. “Mother Armenia”, “National Progress”, “Public Voice” together have 33 mandates, but 2 of “Public Voice” cannot objectively participate in the sessions. This means that the non-governmental sector in the Yerevan Council of Elders de facto has 31 mandates, that is, less than the coalition that formed the government. This in turn means that we cannot torpedo the anti-popular and looting decisions of the CPC+”Republic” coalition by voting “against”, but we can prevent their adoption by boycotting the meetings. In other words, if we are against any decision (for example, the increase in the price of parking spaces or transportation with red dotted lines), then we should not participate in the meeting and vote “against”, but we should not participate in the meeting, not provide a quorum, as a result of which the meeting will not take place and the controversial decision will not be held. will not be accepted. However, this tactic has not been used until now, because “Public Voice” has always worked in favor of the authorities, becoming a de facto member of the ruling coalition in Yerevan.
CPC and “Republic” constantly face the problem of securing a quorum at meetings of the Yerevan Council of Elders and are forced to engage in behind-the-scenes trading with “Public Voice” on controversial issues.
Now they have initiated the process of disqualification of 5 members of the “Mother Armenia” and “National Progress” factions of the Council of Elders: Sona Aghekyan, Gevorg Stepanyan, Narine Hayrapetyan, Zaruhi Postanjyan, Hayk Marutyan. Their absence from more than half of the votes is presented as justification. Without going into the legal and technical details, let us note that not participating in the voting, not providing a quorum is the only effective tool of the anti-government factions and the only way of expressing opposition to the policy.
By applying sanctions against the opposition members of the council, the ruling coalition is trying to force “Mother Armenia” and “National Progress” to give up the boycott tool, because every time the behind-the-scenes trade with “Public Voice” is expensive and causes unpleasantness.
The initiative to deprive the mandate of 5 members of the council is illegitimate. The effective tool to neutralize that initiative is to boycott the session so that a quorum is not ensured, the session does not take place and Nikolpashinyan’s plan does not come to life.
“Mother Armenia” will not participate in that session and calls for a general boycott. But if that meeting takes place against our will (with the participation of any representative or representatives of “Public Voice”), then the members of our faction will enter the meeting hall to say what they have to say in the faces of the sold-out member/members of CPC, “Republic” and “Public Voice”. . In that case, “Mother Armenia” will not participate again in the vote for the actual disqualification of the mandate.
It is obvious that the opposition councilors were attacked and they want to deprive them of their mandate so that they can digest the decisions on the increase in the price of city transport and other price increases in the future.
At this moment, it is difficult to say how the extraordinary session of the Yerevan Council of Elders scheduled for February 7 will take place. Political life has become so degenerate and vulgar that everyone is sitting and waiting to see if this or that member/members of “Public Voice” will be sold or not. In other words, everyone knows that Nikolenko wants to engage in “cattle theft” in illegal ways.
The local government is being destroyed in the so-called “bastion of democracy”. Those who criticize the previous vicious customs introduce such customs today that the former authorities may seem like good fairies in their background.
The political resolution in the created crisis situation is the new elections of the Yerevan Council of Elders.
In September last year, we proposed to boycott the Yerevan mayor’s election sessions and thus contribute to the holding of new council elections, but as a result of the famous deal, the Pashinyans managed to keep the post of mayor and avoid new elections.
Now there is an opportunity to prevent the increase in transport prices and other anti-popular decisions by boycotting the meetings. The boycott of council meetings will also give an opportunity to go to new elections. If the meetings of the Council of Elders are not held for at least 3 months, the government should call for new elections of the Council of Elders of Yerevan.
We are in favor of new elections. What kind of developments we will have will become clear on February 7. If the “cattle theft” succeeded, then the boycott of the meetings will not succeed. If the “cattle theft” did not work, then we should boycott all sessions and go for new elections.”