The chief of staff of the town hall of Vardenis, Armenia, on Tuesday signed, at the courtyard of the town hall, the minutes of the town council session of the inauguration of mayor-elect Aharon Khachatryan.

The newly elected members of the Vardenis Council of Elders applauded the town hall chief of staff.

And Artyom Mkrtchyan, a member of the opposition United Vardenis bloc, commented on the statements by ruling Civil Contract Party’s (CCP) mayoral candidate Aram Melkonyan, said that they were the joke. "We have acted in accordance with the letter of the law," he added.

To note, the police on Tuesday did not allow the newly elected council members and mayor-elect Khachatryan to enter the Vardenis town hall building, and therefore the inauguration of the mayor-elect was held at the courtyard of the building.

Also, a large number of police officers and special police forces had assembled at the courtyard of the town hall building.

As reported earlier, in the December 5 local elections in Vardenis, the ruling CCP had won 13 seats, the opposition Aharon Khachatryan bloc—10 seats, and the opposition United Vardenis—4 seats in the town council. Then, the opposition forces had signed a memorandum to form a coalition, and therefore the number of their town council seats was enough to elect their mayor candidate.

After that, former mayor of Vardenis Aram Harutyunyan, who topped the electoral list of United Vardenis, was charged in a criminal case against him and was arrested.

The first session of the new Vardenis Council of Elders had taken place on December 30. But before the session started, the police had attempted to apprehend another opposition member of the council, Aharon Khachatryan, who is the opposition’s candidate for mayor. Three hours later, the opposition finally had managed to convene a session and elect Khachatryan mayor. The CCP members of this council, however, had not attended this session.