The authorities' calls for the dismissal of community leaders just because they supported the opposition in the snap parliamentary elections are illegal political statements. President of the Union of Communities (Municipalities) of Armenia, Emin Yeritsyan, told this to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

According to him, there should be no legal consequences if these statements are not followed by administrative steps.

Yeritsyan explained that the community leaders are independent, so they can ignore those statements altogether.

"It is common for community leaders to express their political position. Both under our legislation and around the world, the head of the community is a political position. Moreover, according to the new Electoral Code of Armenia, elections shall be held on the proportional [representation], partisan principle. This speaks to the fact that the head of the community cannot but be engaged in party and political activities. His activities are directly political; that is, the activities of the community head are neither professional, nor official, but political,” stressed the president of the Union of Communities (Municipalities) of Armenia.