Vahan Hovhannisyan ( hy, Վահան Հովհաննիսյան; August 16, 1956 – December 28, 2014) was an

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...

n politician of the

Armenian Revolutionary Federation The Armenian Revolutionary Federation ( hy, Հայ Յեղափոխական Դաշնակցութիւն, ՀՅԴ ( classical spelling), abbr. ARF or ARF-D) also known as Dashnaktsutyun (collectively referred to as Dashnaks for short), is an Armenian ...

(ARF).Profile at Armenia Parliament website
He was Vice-President of the

National Assembly of Armenia The National Assembly of Armenia ( hy, Հայաստանի Հանրապետության Ազգային ժողով, ''Hayastani Hanrapetyut'yan Azgayin zhoghov'' or simply Ազգային ժողով, ԱԺ ''Azgayin Zhoghov'', ''AZh''), also infor ...

from 2007 to 2008 and was a candidate in the February 2008 presidential election. A 2008 leaked confidential document by the US State Department described him as "clearly the most likeable Dashnak by public persona." Hovhannisyan was born in

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and i ...

. In 1978, he graduated from the

Moscow State Pedagogical University Moscow State Pedagogical University or Moscow State University of Education is an educational and scientific institution in Moscow, Russia, with eighteen faculties and seven branches operational in other Russian cities. The institution had underg ...

with degrees in history and archaeology. After serving in the Soviet Army from 1978 to 1980, he was a research assistant. From 1990 to 1992, he participated in the

First Nagorno-Karabakh War The First Nagorno-Karabakh War, referred to in Armenia as the Artsakh Liberation War ( hy, Արցախյան ազատամարտ, Artsakhyan azatamart) was an ethnic conflict, ethnic and territorial conflict that took place from February 1988 t ...

. He was a member of the ARF Central Committee from 1990 to 1992 and a member of the ARF Bureau from 1992 to 1995. He was jailed from 1995 to 1998. Afterwards, he was an advisor to Robert Kocharyan, the

President of Armenia The president of Armenia ( hy, Հայաստանի Նախագահ, Hayastani Nakhagah) is the head of state and the guarantor of independence and territorial integrity of Armenia elected to a single seven-year term by the National Assembly of Arm ...

, as well as head of the Commission on Issues of Local Self-Government, from 1998 to 1999. He has been a deputy in the National Assembly since 1999; he was re-elected in May 2003 and May 2007. He served as a Vice-President of the National Assembly during 12 June 2003 — 22 February 2008. In the presidential election held on February 19, 2008, Hovhannisyan, running as the ARF candidate, won 6.2% of the vote. Shortly after the election, on February 21, Hovhannisyan resigned from his position as Vice-President of the National Assembly due to his disapproval of the handling of the election. Afterwards Hovhannisyan was member of the ARF Bureau and member of the National Assembly of Armenia until he became Ambassador of Armenia in Germany. Hovhannisyan died of complications from prostate cancer on December 28, 2014.

References

1956 births 2014 deaths Armenian nationalists Politicians from Yerevan Members of the National Assembly (Armenia) Armenian Revolutionary Federation politicians {{Armenia-politician-stub