DALAR VILLAGE ELECTS NEW MAYOR

Armenpress
Nov 27 2006

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS: The Sunday election of a mayor of
a village in Ararat province that was a scene of a bloody incident
last August went on without any reported breaches.

On August 30 the then head of the village of Dalar, Tigran Petrosian,
was shot and killed by a former village head Gegham Badalian, who
turned in to the police and admitted to the murder. He was taken into
custody and a criminal investigation was instituted into the case.

Local newspapers said the feud between the two village heads, Badalian
and Petrosian, was prompted by the 2003 presidential election that
divided the two friends into different camps with Badalian supporting
Robert Kocharian and Petrosian supporting an opposition candidate
Stepan Demirchian.

After being elected new head of the community in 2005 Tigran Petrosian
launched an inquiry into his predecessor’s work that revealed a
string of serious abuses and wrongdoings and asked local prosecutors
to launch a criminal investigation into the allegations.

In yesterday’s election Gagik Alexanian was elected new village
head. He was supported by 739 votes. His rival Armen Khachatrian
was backed by 596 voters of the overall 1,371 people who went to the
polls. The new village mayor is not affiliated with any party.