News - 3 factions in attendance at first session of Yerevan new city council

Members of the Civil Contract, Republic, and Public Voice factions are participating in the first session of the newly elected Yerevan Council of Elders. A total of 37 out of 65 members of the council are registered for the meeting. The total number of members of these three factions is 39. Two members of the Public Voice faction, Artak Galstyan and Tigran Urikhanyan, are missing. Galstyan is detained, and Urikhanyan is wanted. The Public Voice faction members have come to the session with T-shirts with the photo of Artak Galstyan on them. The matters of the election of the new mayor of the Armenian capital, the nominations for the chairs and deputy chairs of the council committees, as well as the setting of the date of the regular session of the Council of Elders are on the agenda. Earlier, Armenian News-NEWS.am reported that according to the results of the Yerevan Council of Elders elections held on September 17, the seats at the newly elected council were distributed as follows: Civil Contract Party - 24 seats National Progress Party - 14 seats Mother Armenia bloc of parties - 12 seats Republic Party - 8 seats Public Voice Party - 7 seats This means that no political force has managed to form an absolute majority, and therefore it will be necessary to form a coalition to elect a mayor. The Mother Armenia bloc, led by opposition ex-MP Andranik Tevanyan, and National Progress Party, led by former mayor Hayk Marutyan, have announced that they will not participate in the first session of the new Council of Elders so that there will be no quorum, and therefore the Council of Elders is dissolved and new elections are held. Although the Public Voice Party, led by well-known blogger Vardan Ghukasyan, had announced that they will participate in the first session of the Council of Elders, they announced Monday that they still do not have a decision on the matter.