Levon Ter-Petrossian to run for Yerevan Mayor

Following the recent announcement that the next rally by the extra-parliamentary opposition will be held just weeks before a crucial municipal vote to elect the Mayor of Yerevan, it perhaps comes as no surprise that the Armenian National Congress (ANC) will contest the election to be held on 31 May. However, news that its leader, former President Levon Ter-Petrossian, will head the ANC list has startled many observers. The second candidate on the opposition list is Stepan Demirchian, himself a former presidential contender and the son of Armenia’s popular Soviet-era boss.

The election will be the first time that Yerevan residents go to the polls to indirectly choose their city head. Previous presidents, including Ter-Petrossian and his successor, Robert Kocharian, have resisted such a move given how much power a popularly-elected figure could potentially wield in the political and economic heart of the country where at least a third of the population resides. The main candidate for the ruling Republican Party of Armenia is the former head of the city’s Kentron district, Gagik Beglarian, better known to residents by his notorious Chorni (Black) Gago nickname.

In a written statement, the ANC noted the importance of the vote. “With this move, we are sending a very clear political message to society. We regard the election of Yerevan’s mayor as a very serious opportunity to change the existing dictatorial system and, if you like, as a second round of the 2008 presidential elections,” it read. In last year’s bitterly contested election Ter-Petrossian lost to the current president, Serge Sargsyan. Nearly two weeks of street protests followed the 19 February election which most observers consider should have gone to a second round.

On 1 March the bitter post-election standoff ended with fatal clashes that left 10 dead, hundreds wounded, and a state of emergency declared. in the country. “This will be a struggle for lawfulness,” commented ANC office coordinater Levon Zurabian during a press conference held in Yerevan today. “We have come to combat this tyrannical, criminal and oligarchal system to establish democracy in the country. This will not be a struggle against Beglarian. Our main rival is the regime.”

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