Pashinyan’s authorities are moving to postpone local elections in Vanadzor and Masis until 2027, extending the terms of councils in two communities where Civil Contract lost to opposition forces in 2021.
Draft legislation submitted to the National Assembly under an expedited procedure ties the delay to another round of municipal consolidation. The current councils were elected for five-year terms that expire this year, but the proposed changes would push the next elections into 2027.
In Vanadzor, authorities plan to merge the municipality with neighboring Pambak, creating a community of 22 settlements and what would become Armenia’s second-largest municipality by population after Yerevan.
In Vanadzor, the Mamikon Aslanyan Alliance won 38.7 percent of the vote in December 2021 and secured 15 council seats, while Civil Contract received 25 percent and nine seats. Aslanyan was arrested shortly after the election, before opposition forces could complete the process of forming a governing majority. He later spent more than two years in detention, and Vanadzor has since remained under an acting community head rather than an elected mayor. Aslanyan has rejected the charges against him and described the cases as politically motivated.
In Masis, Davit Hambardzumyan’s alliance won 52.5 percent, defeating Civil Contract, which received about 47.3 percent. Hambardzumyan was later sentenced to six years and three months in prison in a case stemming from the 2018 protests. He has described the prosecution as politically motivated. In January 2026, an appeals court replaced his detention with house arrest and bail.
The proposed changes follow an earlier municipal consolidation in Vagharshapat, where boundaries were expanded ahead of the November 2025 election. Civil Contract later won 19 of 33 council seats in the enlarged community.
If adopted, the legislation would delay elections in Vanadzor and Masis beyond the expiration of the current councils’ five-year terms and would alter municipal boundaries before the next vote.
