Dr. Artur Khachikyan, a political scientist from Stanford University, expressed skepticism regarding the ruling Civil Contract party’s reported 36% vote share in Gyumri’s local elections, noting that it remains unclear what would be left of that figure if all irregularities were excluded.

“The concerning issue was the power outage after voting in Gyumri. It’s interesting how this always seems to happen,” he said, as quoted by Panorama.am .

Khachikyan voiced hope that the local elections in Gyumri could serve as a catalyst for political change throughout the country. However, he emphasized that this depends largely on the opposition — their priorities, whether driven by personal interests and ambitions, or a genuine desire to free the people from the current regime.

He stressed that a significant portion of the population has awakened and now realizes the gravity of the situation, particularly as gunfire continues in the direction of villages in the Syunik region, and despite many concessions, peace has not been achieved.

He added that people were once told that giving up Artsakh would lead to better living conditions, but after that, the war came to Syunik.

“People in Gyumri are well aware of the country across the Akhuryan River. Just as Armenians were persuaded in 2018 to give up Kars for peace in Alexandropol, a few months later Turkish forces entered Alexandropol with those same weapons,” Khachikyan said.

The Central Electoral Commission has summarized preliminary results of the March 30 snap municipal elections. No party secured a majority in Gyumri, making political coalitions necessary to elect the community head. If opposition parties unite, the city may see an opposition mayor.

In Parakar, four political groups competed: Civil Contract (led by Lyudvig Gyulnazaryan), Unity Alliance (Volodya Grigoryan), National Progress Party (David Minasyan), and Stability Party (Gor Saribekyan). The Unity Alliance emerged as the frontrunner, with its member party, Country to Live, announcing Grigoryan's victory.