Female members of Gyumri Council of Elders about the results of their work and the upcoming elections

Local elections will be held in Gyumri on October 17. In the run-up to the election, we spoke with women members of the last convocation of the Council of Elders about their work over the past five years, their achievements, their problems, and their future plans. We talked to 5 out of 8 women included in the Gyumri Council of Elders, who represent different political forces.

• How did the Gyumri Council of Elders work?

Armenuhi Mkhitaryan, Prosperous Armenia Faction, prose writer-poet.

– I want to appreciate the work of the members of the Council of Elders of our political force. We addressed many issues, some of which were positive. Personally, I am satisfied with my work, as much as I could, I worked and got the result.

– The greatest achievement as a member of the Council of Elders

Hasmik Yeghiazaryan. “Armenian Revival” faction, director of EKTA Gyumri branch.

– Have I remained convinced that the Council of Elders as an institution has not been established yet? You have to think about this. The structure must change, the competencies must change, some changes must be made so that the role of this institution is really big.

• Proportional electoral system in terms of women’s participation

Susanna Astoyan. “Prosperous Armenia” faction, chief engineer of “Lentex” LLC.

– Proportional is more convenient than majoritarian. In case of individual candidacy, women are targeted a lot, the proportional risks are smaller.

• Women in leadership positions. What has changed?

Armenuhi Vardanyan. GALA faction, journalist.

– As a woman, of course, I would like the ratio of women to men in the governing system to be 50/50, but we must take into account the fact that women must first have so much potential. Or should I say that a lot has changed in our country in the last few years. Now it is no longer strange to see a woman in politics, in the Council of Elders, as an active player in society…

Most of our interlocutors will not run in the October 17 elections, the reasons are different, not all of them are voiced.

Full text in Armenian