By Emilio Luciano Cricchio
Elections for the head of the Armenian Football Federation as well as the 16-member executive body will be held on December 23, amidst the resignations of the former heads of the Armenian Football Federation and the majority of the executive body. Elections have drawn huge public attention, as government involved in tug-of-war over Football Federation.
The election of the head of the Armenian Football Federation as well as the executive body looks to be more open, democratised and competitive than previous elections.
Previous elections to the body were considered more a formality than a competitive process.
In the upcoming election there will be 24 candidates for the executive body, and three candidates for the head of the Football Federation of Armenia.
Tovmas Grigoryan, owner of Lori football club, which is in first place in Armenia’s football league table.
Armen Melikbekyan, First Vice President of the Football Federation.
And finally, Khoren Hovhannisyan, a prominent football player who gained fame during the Soviet years.
This comes on the heels of the resignations of both Artur Vanetsyan and Ruben Hayrapetyan, the previous heads of the Armenian Football Federation.
Ruben Hayrapetyan, the oligarch and former member of the National Assembly for the Republican Party (HHK) of the old regime was the former head of the Football Federation since 2002.
After the 2018 Armenian Revolution, Hayrapetyan stated that he had no intention to resign but said later that he was willing to resign if Artur Vanetsyan was designated as his successor.
Artur Vanetsyan was appointed as head of Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in May 2018, and was later elected to also lead the Football Federation.
However, there was an apparent rift between the Armenian PM and Vanetsyan, and Vanetsyan resigned from his post as NSS chief in September 2019.
Vanetsyan who is believed to have had connections to the old HHK regime, did however retain his role as head of the Football Federation but resigned from his position in November 2019, after Armenia was defeated 9-1 by Italy.
Similarly to Hayrapetyan, Vanetsyan stated he had no intention to resign but resigned anyway, causing some to believe that his resignation was coerced by the government.
Artur Vanetsyan however challenged the 16-member executive body of the Armenian Football Federation to resign as well, many of whom had close ties to Pashinyan’s “My Step” parliamentary faction, including members of the National Assembly and even government members, such as the Minister of Health, Arsen Torosyan.
Furthermore, much like Vanetsyan and Hayrapetyan, many of those members too had no expertise in the field of football.
The members of the executive body agreed to resign and not participate in the election of the executive body, except for Aren Mkrtchyan, an aide of Pashinyan, and a member of the National Assembly, who has apparently reneged on his promise.
In addition, a further criticism of the Armenian Football Federation has been the participation of “fake clubs” in the election process.
Seven football clubs, which only exist on paper, have been participating in the election of the head of the Armenian Football Federation, which some see as a creation by Ruben Hayrapetyan to garner extra votes.
This was another criticism faced by Artur Vanetsyan as those 7 clubs were not deregistered upon his tenure as head of the Federation.
Until 1998, the heads of the Football Federation were from the sporting sphere, however in 1998, Suren Abrahamyan, a former Interior Minister, became the first head with clear political ties.
Since 1998, the head of Football Federation of Armenia has had close ties to the government.
With the upcoming election, the Armenian Football Federation has been criticised by some for now becoming a sort of arena where political power rivalries are played out. As analysts, see a clear government-preferred candidate, Armen Melikbekyan, a candidate endorsed by Vanetsyan and Hayrapetyan, Tovmas Grigoryan, and an alternative third candidate, Khoren Hovhannisyan.
Though some see this as an improvement from the previous affairs of having a pro-government figure gain the position without proper competition.
The new head of the Football Federation, as well as the members of the executive body will be elected in late December, with each football club of Armenia having a single vote.
Though it seems the process of electing the head of the Armenian Football Federation has become more of a political battleground, this is the first time that there will be a clear competitive nature to the proceedings.
In picture: Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visits Football Academy in Avan district of Yerevan, accompanied by then President of the Football Federation Artur Vanestyan and Armenian famed soccer player Henrikh Mkhitaryan, March 25, 2019.
