2018 Yerevan City Council election

979 candidates competed for 65 open seats on the city council (also called "council of elders").[2]

12 parties/alliances took part in the election (numbered below as on the electoral ballot):

• 1. Prosperous Armenia party led by Naira Zohrabyan, journalist and politician, current member of the National Assembly and the vice-president of the Prosperous Armenia party.[3]
• 2. "Yerevan Society" Alliance of Green Party of Armenia and "Ideal Liberal Alliance Party" (GALA), led by Anahit Tarkhanyan, architect, non-partisan, wife of 2013 presidential election candidate Andrias Ghukasyan.
• 3. "Yerevantsiner" Alliance of Pan-Armenian National Movement party and "Armenian Homeland" party, led by Ararat Zurabyan, economist and politician, current member of the National Assembly and the leader of the Pan-Armenian National Movement party.
• 4. Yerkir Tsirani party led by Zaruhi Postanjyan, lawyer and politician, current member of Yerevan City Council, and the leader of Yerkir Tsirani party.[4]
• 5, Heritage party led by Raffi Hovannisian, politician, the first Foreign Minister of Armenia, former member of the National Assembly and the leader of the Heritage party.[5]
• 6. Democratic Way Party, led by Manuel Gasparyan, politician, leader of the Democratic Way Party.
• 7. My Step Alliance, formed by Civil Contract party and Mission Party, led by Hayk Marutyan, actor, producer, activist,[6] member of the Civil Contract.
• 8. Bright Alliance formed by Bright Armenia (leader: Edmon Marukyan, member of National Assembly from "Way Out" alliance) and the Hanrapetutyun Party (leader: Aram Sargsyan, former prime minister, member of National Assembly from "Way Out" alliance) nominates Artak Zeynalyan - doctor, lawyer and politician, current Minister of Justice[7] and member of the Hanrapetutyun Party, former member of National Assembly from "Way Out" alliance.[8]
• 9. Armenian Revolutionary Federation party, led by Mikayel Manukyan, politician, former member of the National Assembly and current director of the forests committee of the Ministry of Nature Protection, member of Dashnaktsutyun.[9]
• 10. Hayk (Haykazuns) Party, led by Gevorg Hovsepyan, leader of the Nzhdehian Tseghakron Party.
• 11. Reformists Party, led by Artak Avetyan, film director, producer, non-partisan.
• 12. Country of Legality party, led by Mher Shahgeldyan, politician, former member of the National Assembly, and member of the Country of Legality party.

Pre-election analysis of the top 10 lists from each party or alliance[10] revealed that:

• only the Bright Alliance lists Yerevan city council members among its top 10 candidates. There are 7 of them, all are members of the current opposition Way Out alliance.
• only the Prosperous Armenia party and "Yerevantsiner" Alliance list each one acting member of parliament
• only the Bright Alliance lists an acting minister (Artak Zenalyan, Minister of Justice).

On average 12 top candidates have 2.8 children, with Raffi Hovhannisyan (Heritage) having the largest number, five, while only Naira Zohrabyan (Prosperous Armenia) has just one child.

Most higher education accomplishments are listed for Artak Zeynalyan (Bright Alliance), though Raffi Hovhannisyan's list is most impressive one.

According to official data there were 848,343 eligible voters.[11][12]

Foreign citizens living in Yerevan can cast their ballots in election if they have at least a one-year registration before voting day.[13]

Electoral code defines one vote per voter and a threshold of 6 percent of cast ballots for parties (50,900 votes at 100% turnout) and 8 percent for alliances (67,867 at 100% turnout), surpassing which is required for consideration during mandates allocation. Only if less than 3 parties/alliances pass the threshold all three best performing parties/alliances will be allocated mandates.[14][15] A “bonus” to the political force that wins at least 40 percent of the council seats will allow it to occupy majority of the seats and appoint the new mayor of Yerevan.[16]

Mandates will be allocated according to proportional representation principle, while regarding whole city area as one multi-mandate electoral district.

Only one international organization (ICES) was registered for monitoring the elections.[12]

662 observers from 8 local organizations and 598 representatives of 49 media outlets will be participating. Ten of the representatives are from 5 foreign media outlets.[17]

Ahead of the September 23 election, in the second and final reading the Armenian Parliament unanimously ratified a bill criminalizing electoral fraud. The amendments to Armenia’s Criminal Code make electoral fraud punishable by imprisonment whereas before, individuals charged with vote buying or selling were simply fined.[10]

Police will establish a telephone Hot Line (010-54-41-22) that can be used to report electoral fraud on election day. Anonymity of those who report corruption cases will be guaranteed.[18]

Campaign was marked by bitter accusations by leading candidates.[19][20] Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said the elections will be between "bright" and "dark" forces.[21]

After some candidates called for public debates and expressed their participation willingness a debate was scheduled to be broadcast on public TV on last campaign day, September 21 at 22:25 - just 95 minutes before "silence day" begins. Debate will be recorded in advance, rather than broadcast live. For this reason one candidate, Naira Zohrabyan, representing Prosperous Armenia Party declined participation and called for a live debate,[22] while ten candidates confirmed their participation.[23] If broadcast shall indeed end before midnight, assuming equal speaking time distribution to candidates and taking into amount some time for moderation it can be expected that effective speaking time per candidate will amount to only about 7 (+-2) minutes.

On September 11 Gallup International published an opinion poll survey.[24] According to the poll:[25]

• 39.9% of the Yerevan residents will back My Step alliance mayoral candidate Hayk Marutyan
• 11.8% will vote for Prosperous Armenia Party candidate Naira Zohrabyan
• 4.2% of the respondents said they will vote for Bright Alliance candidate Artak Zeynalyan
• 2.5% will back Zaruhi Postanjyan’s candidacy from Yerkir Tsirani party
• 1.1% said they will vote for Orinats Yerkir (Country of Legality) party candidate Mher Shahgeldyan
• 1.1% for Raffi Hovhanissian from Heritage
• 0.8% said they will vote for Armenian Revolutionary Federation - Dashnaktsutyun candidate
• 0.3% will vote for Yerevan Society alliance
• 0.2% will vote for Yerevantsiner alliance.

If these numbers hold only top 3 parties/alliances (My Step, Prosperous Armenia Party and Bright Alliance) will make into city council, as account shall be taken for cut-off thresholds and the rule of minimum of 3 parties/alliances representation.

The My Step Alliance has won a landslide victory in the Yerevan City Council elections Sunday, according to preliminary data.[26]

Percentage of the vote of the My Step Alliance by districts of Yerevan.

Well-known comedian and actor Hayk Marutyan, who heads the electoral list of the My Step alliance, will automatically become the next mayor of Yerevan because this political force has garnered more than 50 percent of mandates, and in this case, according to the law, the person who heads the electoral list of the given political force is considered mayor-elect. Hayk Marutyan is expected to assume office on October 10.[27] He is elected for the term of 4 years.