On Sunday, the residents of the Nor Hachn city voted for district chief candidate Armen Keshishyan, who had committed a murder with the gun given to him as a present by the Prime Minister of Armenia Andranik Markaryan. Although this wasn’t new to everyone, it did shock some. Even newspapers such as “The Los Angeles Times”, “New Herald”, “Ausin American-Statesman”, “San Jose Mercury News” have written articles in regard to this.
Despite all of this, the citizens of Nor Hachn think that Armen Keshishyan is the right candidate. The residents who were interviewed claimed that the elections proceeded normally. The candidates have not taken any bribes before the election and they have not applied any other methods. “The elections were fair. We were not afraid of anything and nobody forced us to vote for anybody. There have not even been any toasts being made either,” says resident of Nor Hachn and pensioner Zhora Sahakyan and he proudly adds that the whole city is happy that Armen Keshishyan got reelected.
Another resident, Raffik Barseghian, claims that Armen Keshishyan had been a good district chief and that is why he is respected by everyone. “He got elected because he is honorable. He is serving his second term. If he was such a bad person, he would not get elected. This means that the citizens believe that Armen can do his job well,” says Vladimir Nalbandyan, who sells fruits in front of his apartment building. “I believe in God and am ready to swear by the Bible that neither the authorities nor anyone near the polls have had anything to do with the elections. The elections were fair. We can prove this by saying that the opposing candidate Babken Markaryan and his campaign members had not presented any complaints,” says president of the #27 poll board Gnel Ghalumian.
A crime remains a crime, an election remains an election
Just two weeks before the elections at around 11 a.m., Armen Keshishyan shot and killed head of the electric networks Ashot Mkhitaryan with seven shots. The crime took place near the center of the city Nor Hachn. It turns out that despite that, the citizens have preferred Armen as the district chief rather than the other candidate. The residents of Nor Hachn find nothing unusual about this. They believe that the crime has not really put down his reputation. “We have not paid any attention to that. Who cares if it happened? That is their personal problem; let them deal with it, not us. We have elected Armen with the respect that we have for him,” says Raffik Barseghian as he comments on what made the residents vote for Keshishyan. Another resident of Nor Hachn, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “The people who voted for Armen Keshishyan are probably the ones who have origins in Krasnoselski because Armen is also from there.”
The residents of Nor Hachn are sure that the court will soon recognize the crime committed by Armen and that it will reach its verdict. This means that new elections await the city. “Well, when they announce the date for the new elections, we will then research each candidate. If we feel that the candidate can handle the job, we will vote for him. If not, then we will simply vote for the other candidate,” says Vladimir Nalbandyan.
P.S. During an interview a couple of months ago, mayor of Nor Hachn Armen Keshishyan had said the following: “I am not part of the mafia. I am the 7th mayor of Nor Hachn. If you have watched television, you will have noticed that the President of the Republic of Armenia himself has told others to come to Nor Hachn and learn how to work from the mayor Armen Keshishyan. I am the only mayor whom the president has claimed on television to be the person who everyone must “Xerox”. He really is someone whom we should all “Xerox”.