This year residents of Yerevan notice with surprise that during the pre-election period the city becomes cleaner and ‘greener’ day by day. Many believe the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) is thus trying to raise its rating and the rating of its top candidate on the ticket, who is the incumbent mayor, ahead of the May 31 municipal assembly elections. Some opposition media speculate that even though the current greenery planting and city infrastructure improvement works are being carried out at the expense of budget resources, they still have pre-election purposes.