Press TV, Iran
March 26 2007

Sarkisyan appointed Armenia’s acting PM
Mon, 26 Mar 2007 17:23:00

Armenian Defense Minister, Serzh Sarkisyan, has been appointed
acting Prime Minister, after Andranik Markaryan died Sunday of a
heart attack at the age of 55.

President Robert Kocharyan on Monday accepted the Cabinet’s
resignation due to Markaryan’s death. The Armenian leader charged the
Cabinet with continuing their duties until a new Cabinet could be
formed.

Parliamentary elections in Armenia are scheduled for May 12, and
after the first session of a new parliament, the Cabinet will resign
again.

Markaryan was Armenia’s prime minister since May 2000. In 1997, he
was elected chairman of the Republican Party, which came to head the
ruling coalition in Armenia in 2003.