The police of Armenia are not allowing the newly elected members of the Vardenis Council of Elders and the mayor-elect to enter the town hall building.

Outside the aforesaid building, the law enforcement first demanded to see the mandates of the elected council members and the mayor-elect, then informed that a lawsuit had been filed with the administrative court, the lawsuit had been accepted, and therefore the council members could not enter the town hall building.

Mayor-elect Aharon Khachatryan, in turn, said that a motion had been submitted to make an interim decision, but that motion was not granted at the moment, and therefore they can enter the town hall building.

Khachatryan’s lawyer, for his part, said that if the court has not chosen any means of securing the lawsuit, as well as there is no legal decision made by the court that the decision of the council meeting is invalid, then the council can enter the town hall building today and carry out work.

A police representative, however, said they will not allow the new town council members to enter the building, and therefore the council members could hold the mayor-elect’s inauguration elsewhere.

To note, the police did not submit any documents on the basis of which they banned the newly elected members of the Vardenis Council of Elders from entering the town hall building.

As reported earlier, in the December 5 local elections in Vardenis, the ruling Civil Contract Party (CCP) had won 13 seats, the opposition Aharon Khachatryan bloc—10 seats, and the opposition United Vardenis—4 seats in the town council. Then, the opposition forces had signed a memorandum to form a coalition, and therefore the number of their town council seats was enough to elect their mayor candidate.

After that, former mayor of Vardenis Aram Harutyunyan, who topped the electoral list of United Vardenis, was charged in a criminal case against him and was arrested.

The first session of the new Vardenis Council of Elders had taken place on December 30. But before the session started, the police had attempted to apprehend another opposition member of the council, Aharon Khachatryan, who is the opposition’s candidate for mayor. Three hours later, the opposition finally had managed to convene a session and elect Khachatryan mayor. The CCP members of this council, however, had not attended this session.