Mayoral elections in Vanadzor are going on in extremely tense  atmosphere  

ArmInfo. The mayoral elections in Vanadzor are going on in an extremely tense atmosphere.  The elections were scheduled for 1 pm, but started with a 40-minute delay, because the counting board could not decide what color the  pens of the Elders' Council members must be. The matter concerns the  pens, with the help of which the Elders' Council members are to vote  behind the close doors. The counting board held a consultation and  decided that the Elders' Council members' pens must be blue.    

In addition, according to the decision taken, all the participants in  the voting must leave their mobile phones, which will allow  prevention of photographing the ballot papers. This has caused the  indignation of the lawmakers Heghine Bisharyan from the Armenian  Rebirth Party and Edmon Marukyan from the Bright Armenia, who  consider this decision to be anti-constitutional. 

After that, the political opponents could not decide how to fold the  ballot papers. Passions ran high when one of the members of the  Elders' Council folded the ballot paper in the others' presence,  allegedly violating the secrecy of voting. Mamikon Aslanyan, the  candidate from the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), and  lawmaker Edmon Marukyan got into a verbal duel. The former demanded  observing the lawful course of elections and stressed the need to  call law-enforcers.        

To note, according to the official data of the Central Electoral  Commission, Bright Armenia has 10 mandates, Prosperous Armenia - 3  mandates, Armenian Rebirth - 5. With its 15 votes, the RPA will be in  the minority even in case it receives two votes from ARFD.    

To recall, earlier Bright Armenia, Prosperous Armenia and Armenian  Rebirth signed a memorandum on cooperation in Vanadzor. According to  the document, at the first sitting of the Elders' Council, the  specified parties were to support the candidacy of Bright Armenia  representative Krist Marukyan.