Former Artsakh Minister of State Ruben Vardanyan has called on Yerevan residents to vote for the Aprelou Yerkir (Country of Living) party in the September 17 municipal council election.

Vardanyan says the candidate who top the party’s ballot, Mane Tandilyan, is devoted to Artsakh and will not surrender Artsakh to Azerbaijan.

Vardanyan, who was fired from the post of state minister this February, called on Yerevan voters to replace the “impotent traitors” now in power in Armenia who have brought Artsakh to the brink of destruction.

The former minister is referring to Nikol Pashinyan’s My Step (Im Kayl) alliance that dominates the current Yerevan council with fifty-seven members. 

“I love my hometown of Yerevan very much, but for all of us, these are not just local government elections about buses, garbage collection, etc. Almost half of the country's population lives in Yerevan, and for us, these elections are the first step to remove those authorities who have abandoned Artsakh, who have either sold out or do not understand that their actions are putting Armenia and the entire nation under attack,” Vardanyan writes in a statement issued today.

Mane Tandilyan, a former Armenian Minster of Labor and Social Affairs, founded the Aprelou Yerkir party in 2021.

The party has no deputies in Armenia’s parliament. In November 2021, it won some seats in the municipal councils of Tegh, Dilijan, Tatev, Meghri and Gyumri.