A long-time fixture in Gyumri’s political scene — Ghukasyan has emerged as a new government target ahead of the 2026 parliamentary elections.
Armenian authorities have previously promised a crackdown on Ghukasyan.
The song was played in Gyumri’s main square on Sunday evening.
Vardan Ghukasyan stated he was ready to ‘shoot’ any priest who would marry representatives of the queer community in the Armenian Church.
Vardan Ghukasyan represents the Communist Party.
The incident took place prior to the Gyumri elections, scheduled to be held on 30 March.
Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract party has failed to win a majority in the Yerevan City Council elections, despite receiving most votes. Their main challenger, National Progress led by Hayk Marutyan, came in second place. The preliminary result of Sunday’s election gave Civil Contract 24 of 65 seats on the council, with 33% of the vote. This was a dramatic decline from the previous elections in 2018, when Hayk Marutyan led the party’s list, winning 81% of the vote. National Progress, now led
