Prosperous Armenia Party MP Samvel Balasanyan won yesterday’s mayoral election in Gyumri with 65% of the vote. His nearest rival was ARF member Hovsep Simonyan who won 24.3%.

The two other candidates, Andranik Avetisyan and Spartak Petrosyan, trailed far behind with 5.7% and around 5% respectively.

Voter turnout was light in yesterday’s local elections. Only 36.4% of the 125,657 registered voters in the district cast ballots.

In the race for mayor of Artik, incumbent Khachatour Varagyan lost to Arsen Abrahamyan by a vote of 5,635 to 3,227.

21 seats in the Gyumri Municipal Council were also up for grabs.

Of the 71 candidates in the running, Artak Adamyan came in first with 2,518 votes.

Only one of the seven candidates running on the reformist "The City Is Ours" ticket made the grade.

Levon Barseghyan, President of the Asparez Journalists Club, came in second with 1,325 votes.