A political ally of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has confirmed that the Armenian leader intends to remove Gyumri’s newly elected opposition mayor, Vartan Ghukasian — a move that has sparked concerns over mounting political repression and the government’s growing hostility toward dissent.
The confirmation came two days after Pashinyan, during a parliamentary question-and-answer session, vowed to “throw out” Ghukasian from “the political and public arena.” The Prime Minister made the remark in response to Ghukasian’s recent calls for strengthening Armenia’s partnership with Russia — a position Pashinyan dismissed as undermining “the sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia.”
Ghukasian quickly fired back, insisting that closer ties with Moscow would reinforce rather than diminish Armenia’s independence. “I am not afraid,” he said, accusing the Prime Minister of using state power to persecute political opponents.
On Friday, Ghukasian’s faction in the Gyumri municipal council — nominally representing the local branch of the Armenian Communist Party — issued a statement condemning what it described as a “new wave of repression” orchestrated by the Prime Minister. “Leave Gyumri alone, do your job, and accept reality,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, Karen Sarukhanian, a pro-government parliamentarian from Gyumri, suggested that the mayor would be removed not through legal mechanisms but by “the people of Gyumri” themselves. When pressed for details, Sarukhanian declined to explain how or when such an ouster might occur.
“The people of Gyumri are going to throw out, so to speak, the community leader who questions the sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia,” Sarukhanian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Ghukasian, 64, returned to office in April after four opposition groups collectively defeated the ruling Civil Contract party in the March 30 municipal election. Pashinyan has since questioned the legitimacy of that vote, alleging — without providing evidence — that it was tainted by vote-buying.
“The Prime Minister must understand that he leads a force rejected by the people of Gyumri,” Ghukasian’s faction countered. “The election results were not and could not be disputed by any state body.”
The veteran mayor, who also governed Gyumri from 1999 to 2012, already faces several criminal charges that he has denounced as politically motivated. None of the accusations relate to the alleged vote-buying cited by Pashinyan.
The March election followed the abrupt and unexplained resignations of former mayor Vardges Samsonian and council members affiliated with businessman Samvel Balasanian — both of whom were later targeted with criminal cases widely seen as politically charged.
Pashinyan’s party has repeatedly faced similar accusations across Armenia, where opposition victories in municipal elections have been followed by arrests, criminal prosecutions, or orchestrated defections. In Vanadzor, the country’s third largest city, opposition leader Mamikon Aslanyan was arrested in December 2021 just as he was poised to reassume the mayoralty. He spent two and a half years in prison before being sentenced in January to four and a half years on corruption charges that he continues to deny.
A similar pattern unfolded in July 2023, when two defections from an opposition bloc enabled the ruling party to seize control of the Akhurian community near Gyumri. Sarukhanian did not deny that the government might attempt a comparable maneuver in Gyumri itself.
