Pro-government candidate wins Vanadzor State University election

As widely expected, Dr. Armen Tsaturyan, supported by the ruling Civil Contract party, has been elected rector of the Vanadzor Hovhannes Tumanyan State University. The university’s Board of Trustees voted 13–5 in his favor over incumbent rector Rustam Sahakyan during a competitive election held on Tuesday.

Tsaturyan, a doctor of pedagogical sciences and director of the Eureka School specializing in mathematics and natural sciences, reportedly entered the race at the urging of former Lori Governor and current Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Aram Ghazaryan. He is also the brother of the detained physics teacher from Yerevan’s John Kirakosyan School.

Sahakyan, a doctor of yechnical sciences, had been serving as rector since 2020. His appointment at the time was enthusiastically welcomed by then Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Arayik Harutyunyan, who hailed him as an “outsider rector returning from abroad to serve his homeland.”