Yerevan daily: Who will lead Pashinyan's party?

In the run-up to the forthcoming congress of Armenia's ruling party on September 18, passions within the Civil Contract run high. In particular, many Civil Contract members are not happy with the behaviour of Tigran Avinyan, candidate for Yerevan mayor.

"The fact is that the latter claims to be the chairman of the board of the party, as neither Nikol Pashinyan nor the current chairman Suren Papikyan can become the chairman: according to the charter of the Civil Contract, the chairman changes on the principle of rotation. Avinyan seems to have formed his own separate team and is actively vying for chairman status, stopping at nothing," Yerevan-based newspaper Zhokhovurd writes with reference to its sources, Caliber.Az reports.

"It is unclear whether his defiant behaviour is coordinated with Nikol Pashinyan, or is simply individual. It should be noted that Arsen Torosyan, who necessarily participates in all events and travels around the regions, also vigorously fights for becoming a board member of the Civil Contract. Artur Hovhannisyan, Arpi Davoyan, and Vahagn Alexanyan are also active, doing their best to pander to Pashinyan.

It should be added that new developments are possible in the run-up to the congress since 48 and 16 candidates respectively have been nominated for election to the Board and Supervisory Committee.

Although the competition is very big, it is still up to Nikol Pashinyan's will to decide who will join the board and who will not", the newspaper said.