Who Will Be the Next Mayor?

Mayoral elections are to be held on May 8 th in Alaverdi. As expected, the campaign has been tense. Initially, six candidates registered with Regional Electoral Commission #40. Three of them were employees of the copper producing company ACP and expected the support of their party. Eduard Sharmazanov, deputy head of the Republican Party's youth organization, expected support from his party. Artur Nalbandyan, the director of the Tumanyan branch of the Electric Net CJSC expected the support of Lori Marzpet Henrik Kochinyan, according to rumors, and the incumbent, S. Ohanyan expected support from his faction.

Prior to the campaign, the Regional Electoral Commission (REC) summoned all six mayoral candidates and advised them "to forget all that had been done before and clarify the rules of the game," or a code of conduct. The commission suggested that they sign a joint statement, which, after some editing, read: "We would like to emphasize that each candidate is responsible not only for himself, but also for the election campaign headquarters, advocates, and even for the voters. The Electoral Code legally regulates the electoral process, but we attach more importance to the moral behavior of the sides, the maintenance of ethical standards, and respectful behavior towards each other.Starting from today we have to prevent hatred among the citizens of Alaverdi. Ultimately, after the 8 th of May, the 9 th is going to come, and we are going to continue to live side by side. REC #40 declares honestly that it will be strictly objective and will maintain the legality of the elections without giving preference to any candidate."

The campaign began on April 19 th . Two of the ACP candidates did not deny that they were going to withdraw in favor of the third, Ruben Papoyan. The main four candidates each described their advantages over the others: "I have political experience and a clear plan, and I am legitimate among the people," said Eduard Sharmazanov. "I have good a chance of being elected," said Artur Nalbandyan. "The city's chances for development are connected with investments in the factory," said Ruben Papoyan. "Alaverdi needs a warm, friendly, empathetic, mayor like me," said Mayor Ohanyan.

On April 18 th , the day that the Local Electoral Commission (LEC) came together in Alaverdi, Governor Henrik Kochinyan arrived from Vanadzor with an entourage of ten cars and 45 staffers. The LEC was surprised to see the group, who introduced themselves as representatives of the Regional Electoral Commission appointed by the president of the republic, and began the process of electing the heads, deputy heads, and secretaries of the fifteen local electoral commissions. In the commissions where all nine members were present, citizens of Alaverdi managed to be elected to the posts of deputy head and secretary; in all other cases, the majority of the votes went to the group from Vanadzor.

Thirteen of the fifteen people elected to head the local commissions were employees of either the Governor's Office or institutions under its control. They included the heads and deputy heads of the Departments of Education, Transportation, Social Affairs, and City Construction of the Governor's Office. Three of the people elected as deputy heads were also citizens of Vanadzor. The representatives of the president of Armenia were more generous when it came to the position of secretary, permitting representatives of the People's Party of Armenia to occupy the post in seven commissions.

The same day, the governor of Lori called a meeting of directors of schools and kindergartens and other employees in the educational field. He presented the results of research conducted over the last two months, which rated the work of three of Alaverdi's kindergartens as deficient, and one as unsatisfactory. The schools fared little better.

Although the meeting was not connected with the elections, some of the people present allow that there may have been an element of intimidation there, especially in light of past experience in Lori, in which Governor Kochinyan had summoned the directors of all city institutions prior to previous elections.

As a rule, the Lori governor has always had his own candidate in Alaverdi mayoral elections, and has never tried to conceal it, even when it his choice has run counter to the interests of his party or the wishes of the citizens of Alaverdi. A unique defeat for Governor Kochinyan occurred in 2003 when Hamlet Tamazyan beat his brother in parliamentary elections. The governor has held a grudge against the mayor and the people of Alaverdi ever since.

When we spoke to Henrik Kochinyan on April 18 th , he didn't deny that he had his own candidate in this election, but he was in no hurry to mention names. "I don't have any problem. Let the person who is elected person think about whether or not he can work with me," he said.

The following day, all three ACP candidates officially withdrew from the race.

Three candidates remained.

On April 21 st the governor held a press conference-"again, not connected with the election campaign"-at which he also answered some questions concerning the elections. He explained the strengthened position of the Regional Administration in local electoral commissions saying, "The President has ordered that civil servants be included in local electoral commissions." But the commissioners from Vanadzor include people who are not civil servants. "Let one person among the 45 not be a civil servant-he is my advisor," Kochinyan proclaimed, adding that employees of the state apparatus are also eligible.

Alaverdi itself has a number of state institutions with their own civil servants, but the governor believes that the fewer Alaverdi citizens there are on the commissions, the less likely they are to "offend" each other. "You're my friend, you're my neighbor, why don't you help me? How a commission member can help, I don't know, so this person gets into difficult situation," the governor explained, adding, "How can we punish an Alaverdi citizen if he behaves badly? But if it's a civil servant or an employee of the state apparatus, we can grab him by the ear and throw him into the River Debed; we can just fire him."

Not only does The Law on Civil Service forbid throwing civil servants into the river, but also, according to Article 24, it forbids civil servants "doing any other paid job than scientific, pedagogical, and creative work." The positions of LEC head, deputy head and secretary are all paid. The law also forbids using the position of civil servant to serve the interests of a political party or other public group, to advocate behavior towards any group or to perform any other political or religious activities while fulfilling professional obligations. Here, the electoral process can be viewed as a public and political activity, as political parties are involved in it. Article 25 of the law limits the right to issue orders to a civil servant, saying that he or she may not be given such written or oral orders which contradict the laws of the Republic of Armenia , or such orders that are beyond the competence of the people who give and implement them. Being elected or appointed to a political, civil, or discretionary position is cited as grounds for dismissal.

Whether or not the civil servants are implementing President Kocharyan's orders as the governors says, they are in very real danger of losing their jobs, as a result of either breaking the law, or of being thrown into the Debed by Governor Kochinyan.

Kochinyan well knows that in Alaverdi, many people will vote against a candidate for the sole reason that the governor supports him. That is why he has not mentioned a specific name. "I know that the people of Alaverdi are worried about the fact that I'm not mentioning any name. I want you to be worried. Worry about it!" he said. In fact, if the governor really follows the rules and orders of the Republican Party as he said at his press conference, then he hopes that his apparent neutrality will help Eduard Sharmazanov.

If it is true that he is not backing the Republican Party candidate, but Artur Nalbandyan, who neither denies nor confirms having the governor's sponsorship, then we can say that Kochinyan has no use for a mayor who, once he is elected, will attempt to deal with issues without the participation of Governor Kochinyan and others in high places. "A couple of Alaverdi people have tried to oppose me, and have felt the result on their noses," Kochinyan said, suggesting that the people of Alaverdi had a choice to make between their relationship with an individual, and their relationship with the governor himself, and reminding them that Alaverdi always suffers when it goes against the governor.