Martun Grigoryan, the leader of the Our City alliance, announced that his political team will provide enough votes to secure the election of Vardan Ghukasyan as mayor of Gyumri.

He emphasized that the ruling Civil Contract party has lost its grip on power in Gyumri.

"Dear residents of Gyumri, thank you for participating in the local council elections and for the warm and exceptional welcome you gave me and my team in recent days. Thank you for your support and for choosing the Our City alliance. You witnessed what has happened and continues to happen to my family members and teammates.

The authorities resorted to every possible means—both legal and illegal—using manipulations and various pressures, trying to break me psychologically, arrest my teammates, and initiate criminal prosecutions. This continues to this day, but I will speak about it later.

I fully understand the whole of Gyumri and the country have been waiting for my decision, which will influence future developments both locally and nationally. Throughout my political journey, I have consistently prioritized the collective interests of our city, our people, and our country over personal considerations.

Today I made what is arguably the most difficult and painful political decision of my life, one that I pondered deeply. During the campaign, I was the only candidate to openly state what would happen if Vardan Ghukasyan were elected mayor. I remain convinced he is the most vulnerable candidate due to ongoing criminal proceedings.

What will follow and how this individual will be treated—mark my words—will define Gyumri’s path: will it follow Vanadzor’s footsteps or not? I’ve warned the other candidates, particularly Ruben Mkhitaryan and Karen Simonyan, about these risks directly or indirectly. Despite being fully aware of the dangers, both teams hastily backed this candidate, making it impossible to explore alternative, more secure options.

In my view, we could have agreed on Ruben or Karen as mayor through joint negotiation among the four candidates. That would have been the real start of dismantling the entire current power structure. But their choices brought us to the current situation, and it's not too late to discuss it.

Dear residents of Gyumri, especially the nearly 7,400 of you who voted for me, you cast your votes in opposition to the current authorities’ reproduction in Gyumri, and we all fought for that idea. We achieved it together—congratulations to all of us.

Civil Contract is no longer in power in Gyumri,” the statement reads.

He added that voters supported him to prevent the return of old practices to the city, knowing his principles and firm red lines. He emphasized that thanks to him, Gyumri was once freed from those same outdated methods.

“And now, due to the urgency and decisions of the two other teams, I’m forced to make a decision we all have fundamentally opposed. I apologize to my voters, relatives, friends, and supporters, but I firmly state that I place the interests and security of our country, Gyumri, and our citizens above my personal views. I am taking this step at the people’s request.

I believe you will understand and support my decision. All of you now see that political forces in Gyumri can do nothing without Our City and its vote. From now on, everything will depend on how we vote.

So, Our City declares that it will cast the necessary number of votes in favor of Vardan Ghukasyan, the candidate backed by the other two forces—without demanding any positions, rewards, or deals,” the statement concludes.

Grigoryan also noted that the full responsibility for Gyumri’s future now lies with the three forces supporting Ghukasyan. However, he assured that he would not remain passive and would continue working to prevent Civil Contract from regaining the mayor's office in Gyumri.

The Central Electoral Commission has announced the preliminary results of the March 30 snap local elections. No party won a majority in Gyumri, and forming political coalitions will be necessary to elect a community leader. If opposition forces unite, Gyumri could have an opposition mayor. In Parakar, four political forces competed: Civil Contract (Ludvig Gyulnazaryan), Unity Alliance (Volodaya Grigoryan), National Progress Party (Davit Minasyan), and Stability Party (Gor Saribekyan). The leading force is the Unity Alliance, whose member party Country to Live has claimed victory for Volodaya Grigoryan.