Leader dies just before crucial vote
Tony Halpin
The Times/UK
March 26, 2007
The Prime Minister of Armenia died suddenly of heart failure
yesterday, less than two months before critical parliamentary
elections in the tiny Caucasus republic.
Andranik Margaryan, 55, was the longest-serving Prime Minister in
post-Soviet Armenia. His predecessor, Vazgen Sargsyan, was killed in a
terrorist attack in parliament in October 1999 that left seven other
politicians dead. President Kocharyan appointed Mr Margaryan in May
2000 in an attempt to stabilise the country.
Mr Margaryan’s ruling Republican Party had dominated Armenian politics
in recent years but was facing stiff competition from a new party,
Prosperous Armenia, in parliamentary elections in May.
Mr Margaryan was a computer specialist who became a dissident activist
against the Soviet Union in the 1970s.