Only in two days on December 17 the Council of Elders of Yerevan will elect new mayor for Yerevan.
But prior to that, the top topic of discussion for political circles are the stories, which develop around Gagik Beglaryan, who had resigned the mayor’s post last week. More accurately, his resignation is in past and people are speaking about who’s going to substitute him in this post. On these days certain names are being circulated but no one knows for sure who the substitute is going to be on the Republican list. And this is one of the unique cases when the politicians of the governmental wing know as much as the average citizens of the country. This is not the case when they are discussing options. This is the case when they are waiting for the name, which President Serzh Sargsyan will nominate. The deputy-mayor of Yerevan Taron Margaryan (3rd on the Republican list) and the 6th number of the RPA list the general director of ArmRusGazProm Karen Karapetyan have 50/50 chance of being elected mayor of Yerevan. The majority of the RPA members are inclined to accept Taron Margaryan’s candidacy because he is the son of the former head of the RPA and their late comrade. At any rate Karen Karapetyan is accepted as a loyalist of the former president Robert Kocharyan. However, currently the RA government is in such a state that even the elected post of the mayor of Yerevan should be reconciled with Moscow. Sargsyan has recently returned from Moscow and in his mind he already has the name of the next mayor. It’s a totally different thing that he doesn’t share this with his party mates. By a surprising coincidence, right after the return of Sargsyan to the motherland K. Karapetyan left for Moscow. This circumstance may prompt us that in Moscow they are preparing Karapetyan to become mayor of Yerevan. By the way, despite the fact that the webpage of the city council of Yerevan included the name of Karen Karapetyan as a candidate for the mayor it didn’t have the bio of the latter. But yesterday evening the bio was updated. We mentioned this as a reference. Unlike Margaryan Karapetyan is not a Republican Party member. He is only a member of the Council of Yerevan. By the way the composition of the RPA faction is also very interesting. In the first place is G. Beglaryan, second – Taron Margaryan, third – the head of the faction Derenik Dumanyan. The latter’s name is also being circulated among the possible candidates of mayor. But even within the RPA they find it little possible that Sargsyan would mention his name. The fourth and fifth places of the list are occupied by well-known Souren Nersisyan and Hrach Poghosyan. The next important person on the RPA list after Beglaryan and Margaryan is K. Karapetyan in the 6th place. It means back in the day, the government has accepted him as a candidate for mayor. Back in the day there were also rumors that instead of Beglaryan Karapetyan would lead the RPA list. Moreover, for many people it was surprising that the director of a gas company Karapetyan would appear on the Elderly Council list. So, currently Karapetyan’s candidacy is no surprise. It may have been planned too. However, as we mentioned Karapetyan is not an RPA member despite being on the RPA list of the Elderly Council. The RPA members are slightly jealous about this fact. Same happened to Tigran Sargsyan when he became Prime Minister. When speaking to us the head of the RPA faction Galust Sahakyan didn’t signify the membership to the party for high posts. “I don’t think that the RPA party is obsessed by party membership. Indeed, if Karapetyan’s candidacy is discussed and certain convincing arguments are brought up then this fact won’t matter,” he said. Margaryan is already an RPA member. Moreover, he has a great experience of heading a local community. He was the head of Avan community and is now the deputy-mayor of Yerevan. Isn’t this a stronger argument? “This is a very strong argument and it’s not excluded that the discussions may develop in that direction,” added Sahakyan. However, despite arguments the RPA will nominate a person, who would be mentioned by Serzh Sargsyan. Soon Sargsyan will summon an executive session and will name the RPA candidate. It is also interesting to know what Beglaryan is going to do. He for now resigned from the mayor’s post. It’s more accurate to say that he was made to resign. But he didn’t refuse from the functions of an Elderly Council member. It means that Beglaryan is still a member of RPA list. It is not yet clear whether he will remain in that structure. He is also a member of the RPA party and it’s not clear either whether he’ll stay in the party or not. “There is no such demand now. It is his right. Such a question is not being discussed now,” says Sahakyan. It is already clear that no criminal case will be launched against Beglaryan. Isn’t kidnapping and beating considered crime? “These are prevocational rumors. Nothing serious has been happening. There are no complainers and secondly this is an incident occurred during work,” responded Sahakyan.