The “Bright Armenia” Party (which participated in the local elections of the enlarged community of Vanadzor, and did not exceed the established minimum threshold and did not participate in the distribution of mandates (received 1314 votes in favor, 3.97% of the votes) filed a lawsuit in the administrative court of Vanadzor, with request to invalidate the decisions No. 37-A and No. 38-A of the Territorial Electoral Commission No. 23 of 12.12.2021 on summarizing the voting results of the local elections of the enlarged community of Vanadzor of 05.12.2021, and recognizing the corresponding number of candidates included in the electoral list of the “Bright Armenia” Party as elected, due to which the election of the Mayor of the community did not take place and was postponed.
On 21.12.2021 the claim was rejected by the verdict of the RA Administrative Court.
The “Bright Armenia” Party filed a lawsuit with the RA Administrative Court on 23 December 2021 against the Council of Elders of Vanadzor community and the staff of Vanadzor community, that is, the day before the session in the Council of Elders with demands to: the Vanadzor community council to refrain from actions aimed at electing the head of Vanadzor united community, that is, to refrain from holding a meeting with the agenda of electing a community head and/or to refrain from electing a community head; and/or to recognize as illegal the action of announcing the termination of the powers of the Vanadzor community head of the Vanadzor community staff.
The Court accepted the Claim into proceedings on 24 December, 2021; the plaintiff also mediated to apply securing the claim, which was partially satisfied by the court, by the decision of the court of 24.12.2021, the securing of the claim was applied, that is to prohibit the Defendants from taking any action aimed at organizing and holding the meetings of the Council of Elders to discuss the issue of electing a community head until the resolution of the issue of accepting the appeal submitted to the RA Administrative Court of Appeal in administrative case No. VD / 13178/05/21.
Despite the fact that according to Article 213, Part 1 of the RA Code of Administrative Procedure , the decision made on administrative case No. VD/13178/05/21 is final, not subject to review and enters into force upon publication, nevertheless, the above-mentioned decision was appealed by the “Bright Armenia” Party in the order of appeal. The plaintiff mentioned as the basis for the claim submitted on 23.12.2021 the fact that the above decision has been appealed, as well as on that basis, as they appealed the verdict, mediated to secure the claim.
The deadline for resolving the issue of the appeal filed by the “Bright Armenia” Party is 7 January, 2022.
As a result of the above-mentioned court proceedings, the session of the Council of Elders to be convened on 24.12.2021 did not take place.
Thus, on 7 January, 2022, the Administrative Court of Appeal issued a decision rejecting the appeal filed by the “Bright Armenia” Party.
It is also stipulated that the decision enters into force 5 days after its receipt and can be appealed to the RA Court of Cassation within the same period.
The decision was signed by Judge Arthur Poghosyan, presiding over the court session, Judges Rustam Makhmudyan, and Karen Matevosyan.
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As it is known, on 5 December, 2021, the elections of the Council of Elders of Vanadzor enlarged community were held. Council of Elders of Vanadzor enlarged community consists of 33 members. 10 political forces participated in the elections. Five political forces exceeded the established minimum threshold, and the mandates were distributed in the following proportion:
- “Mamikon Aslanyan” Alliance of Parties – 15 seats,
- “Civil Contract” Party – 9 seats,
- Labor Socialist Party of Armenia – 5 seats,
- “Hayrenik” Party – 2 seats,
- “Country to Live” Party 2 seats.
As a result, the “Mamikon Aslanyan” Alliance of Parties decided to form an alliance with other opposition political forces, members of the Council of Elders, to exercise executive power in the community.
It should be noted that Mamikon Aslanyan was arrested and detention was chosen as the measure of restraint on 15 December 2021, just a few days before the first meeting of the Council of Elders.
The first session of Council of Elders of Vanadzor enlarged community was appointed on 24 December 2021, at 11:00 p.m. Mamikon Aslanyan, who is the first on the electoral list of the “Mamikon Aslanyan” Alliance of Parties, is a candidate for mayor of the Alliance as well
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The Governing Board of the CSO Anti-Corruption Coalition of Armenia has issued a statement on the post-election processes of local self-government bodies.
