Dear voters of the enlarged community of Vagharshapat, I bow to all of you and congratulate you all first of all on the occasion of democratic elections. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of the Republic of Armenia (RA) wrote this on Facebook on Monday morning—and regarding Sunday’s city council election in Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin).

Pashinyan added as follows: “With your vote, you made several important points:

  1. You elected the candidate of the [ruling] Civil Contract Party, Argishti Mekhakyan, as community head, confirming that a peaceful, prosperous, and democratic Republic of Armenia is the best way to honor the memory of our martyrs, the greatest tribute being made to their memory.
  2. You showed unequivocal support for the strategy of the Civil Contract Party to strengthen our statehood, independence, sovereignty, freedom.
  3. With your vote, you gave important momentum to the process of freeing our holy of holies, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, from Ktrich Nersisyan [i.e. Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II].
  4. You appreciated the work done by the Civil Contract in your community during the previous period and were forgiving of the mistakes made. I want to apologize to all of you for those mistakes.

I congratulate Argishti Mekhakyan on being elected head of the enlarged community of Vagharshapat and congratulate the residents of Vagharshapat for electing Mekhakyan, who has modestly but effectively proven himself as an administrator.

I congratulate all my colleagues in the Civil Contract Party, I congratulate all RA citizens on this resonant prelude to the 2026 nationwide [parliamentary] elections.

The people of the Republic of Armenia will win in the 2026 parliamentary elections.”

As reported earlier, according to the preliminary results publicized by the Central Electoral Commission of Armenia, three political forces will have seats in the municipal council of the Vagharshapat enlarged community. They are: the ruling Civil Contract Party, the “Victory” bloc, and the Mother Armenia Party.

And the 33 seats of the council will be distributed as follows:

Civil Contract Party – 19 seats

“Victory” bloc – 12 seats

Mother Armenia Party – 2 seats

This means that the ruling Civil Contract Party can independently appoint the new mayor of Vagharshapat without forming a coalition with any other political force.