News - Newly elected Yerevan municipal council first session kicks off

The newly elected Council of Elders of Yerevan has convened its first session. 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. The ruling Civil Contract Party and the Republic Party had stated that they will participate in the first session. Artak Zeynalyan, who heads the electoral list of the Republic Party, had said that they have not yet decided on a candidate for mayor, but it is clear that they will participate in the first session of the new Council of Elders.