Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister Arayik Harutyunyan took to Facebook to respond to newly elected Gyumri Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan, who alleged that the ruling Civil Contract party had "rigged" the elections.

“Last week, Gyumri native Vardan Ghukasyan tried to accuse Civil Contract of allegedly rigging the elections. This communist-cleric-thug hybrid seems to confuse his era of lawlessness with the irreversible democracy we now live in. Now he is obliged to provide evidence for his words. Otherwise, we all know what they call people in his beloved ‘world’ who make accusations without proof,” Harutyunyan wrote.

He added: “And by the way—when he talks about Civil Contract’s numbers, can’t someone remind him there are 82 precincts in Gyumri? Civil Contract won in 70, and he won in 7. That’s 85% for Civil Contract, and 8.5% for him. I’d advise him to print those numbers and hang them in that tacky-colored office of his, so he remembers what kind of mayor he really is.”

Vardan Ghukasyan, who previously served as Gyumri mayor from 1999 to 2012, was re-elected on April 16. Eighteen opposition city council members unanimously supported his candidacy. The Mother Armenia, Our City, and My Strong Community factions refrained from nominating their own candidates and chose to back the opposition’s leading force, expressing their intent to unseat the ruling Civil Contract faction.