Elective office is not gifted, incumbent Mayor Yerevan Taron Margaryan, who is a mayoral candidate from the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), told journalists on Tuesday, referring to the claims of mayoral candidate from Yelk bloc, Nikol Pashinyan, on that the office of the head of Yerevan’s Avan administrative district was gifted to him by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. 

Asked about the fact that the opponents call into question his career, claiming that he was appointed to the post thanks to his late father, who was the country’s premier, Margaryan said: “I have been a member of the RPA since 1996. In 2005, I was elected by the residents as the head of Avan administrative district. Elective office is not gifted. Maybe it is them who always wanted to get presents?”