Ruling party says political grounds exist for snap local elections in Gyumri

Vice Speaker of Parliament Ruben Rubinyan, a member of the Civil Contract party, said on Tuesday that, from a political standpoint, there are sufficient grounds to argue that the Gyumri City Council should be dissolved and new elections should be held.

“It is a fact that in the 2026 parliamentary elections, the Civil Contract party received more than 50 percent of the votes in Gyumri. Does this automatically, in a technical sense, mean that new local government elections should be held in Gyumri? No, it does not. But I believe that, politically, it means there are sufficient grounds to argue that the Gyumri City Council should be dissolved and new elections should be organized,” Rubinyan said.

He also drew attention to the fact that Gyumri Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan has been arrested on charges of taking a bribe.

According to Rubinyan, all of this clearly demonstrates that there is a crisis of legitimacy in Gyumri Municipality that needs to be resolved.

During a campaign rally in Gyumri as part of the pre-election campaign for Armenia’s June 7 parliamentary elections, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also spoke about the need to hold snap local elections in Gyumri.

Gyumri Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan has been in pre-trial detention since October 2025 on bribery charges, which he denies. The city has been governed by an acting mayor since then. Ghukasyan is also under investigation for allegedly plotting to seize power.

The Gyumri City Council elections were held on March 30, 2025.

Six political parties and three alliances participated in the Gyumri elections. Five of them surpassed the electoral threshold (4 percent for parties and 6 percent for alliances).

The results were as follows:

Civil Contract Party — 14 mandates (17,188 votes)

Communist Party of Armenia — 8 mandates (9,727 votes)

Our City alliance — 6 mandates (7,380 votes)

My Powerful Community party — 3 mandates (3,739 votes)

Mother Armenia alliance — 2 mandates (2,904 votes)

At the first session of the Gyumri City Council, held on April 16, 2025, Vardan Ghukasyan, the candidate of the Communist Party of Armenia, was elected mayor.