According to preliminary election results, Vahagn Gevorgyan will continue to serve as mayor of Abovyan, a town of some 35,000 located ten miles northeast of Yerevan.

Gevorgyan bested his closest rival, Civil Contract Party candidate Grigor Gulyan, by 395 votes.

Gevorgyan, an independent who enjoys the backing of Prosperous Armenia Party leader Gagik Tsarukyan, garnered 8,453 votes to Gulyan’s 8,058. The other three candidates combined received less than 1,400 votes.

Abovyan, regarded as a satellite city of Yerevan, is located in Tsarukyan’s  power base of Kotayk Province.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is the head of Civil Contract, originally established as an NGO in 2013, which became a political party in 2015.