Based on the preliminary data of the mayor elections held in Armavir on Sunday, existing mayor and vice-president of the Republican Party’s Armavir Marz branch Ruben Khlghatyan maintained his position. According to the Central Election Committee, Ruben Khlghatyan received 8322 votes, while his rival Arayik Aghababyan, who is the municipal director of the city of Armavir of the “Prosperous Armenia” party, received 6844 votes. Nearly 61% of voters participated in the elections (15,791 out of the 25,884). The election committee did not register any protest/appeals and/or unusual events. However, Arayik Aghababyan told “Radio Liberty” that he is getting ready to protest against the results of the elections.
“The elections held on Sunday were planned, fraud was boundary-spanning, and there was a miscount of at least 4,000 votes,” said Aghababyan. According to Aghababyan, fraud was committed in different ways. “There were practically double, triple and quadruple votes”. The candidate informed that the Republican Party is getting ready to present a protest/appeal to the precinct election committee. Interestingly, the participants of the elections had the chance to present protest/appeals until 2:00 p.m. on Monday, but as secretary of the Central Election Committee Tsovinar Khachatryan told “168 Hours”, nobody presented appeals. The final results of the elections for mayor of Armavir will be published within three days according to the law.