Armenian PM, associates stage procession around city ahead of Yerevan City Council polls

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, President of the Armenian National Assembly Alen Simonyan, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Defence Minister Suren Papikyan, as well as other members of the Civil Contract party, staged a procession through the streets of the capital as part of the election campaign for the Yerevan City Council.

Pashinyan is participating in the procession with his wife and children. He is periodically making statements over the loudspeaker, campaigning for voting for his party. The procession is accompanied by security guards from special services and police officers. The traffic has been stopped, TASS reports.

The Yerevan media previously reported that the officials were mobilised to participate in Pashinyan's procession.

Elections to Yerevan’s Council of Elders (City Council) will be held on September 17, following which the mayor of the city will be elected. The mayor will be chosen by the party that will receive 50 per cent plus one vote in the elections, or by a coalition of political forces. Some 14 political forces are participating in the elections, candidates for the post of mayor of the capital are listed first. The list of Pashinyan’s party is headed by Vice Mayor Tigran Avinyan.