Residents of Etchmiadzin go to the polls on October 21 to elect a new mayor.

There are fourteen candidates vying for the post to replace Karen Grigoryan, son of retired army general and MP Manvel Grigoryan, who served as Etchmiadzin mayor for ten years before resigning in June of this year in the face of mounting pressure.

None of the fourteen have yet been formally registered.

Manvel Grigoryan, charged with illegal arms possession and embezzlement, ran the town, where the Holy See of the Armenian Apostolic Church is located, as his personal fiefdom.

Diana Gasparyan, the acting Etchmiadzin mayor and a member of the Civil Contract party, is one of the candidates.

The nearby town of Armavir will also elect a mayor the same day. There are four candidates in that election.