Artur Baghdasarian (born November 8, 1968 in Yerevan, RA) is an RA politician and former Chairman of the National Assembly of RA. He is the leader of the pro-government Rule of Law party. He is married and has two children.[1]
Born November 8, 1968 in Yerevan. In 1985, he finished the "K. Abovian" Secondary School in Yerevan. In 1985 he entered and in 1992 graduated from Law Faculty of Yerevan State University. In 1988- 1989 he served in the army.
From 1989 to 1993 he worked at the editorial offices of the newspaper "Avangard" as a Journalist, Head of Department, and Deputy Editor-in-Chief.
In November 1993 he was elected the Vice-Chairman of Shengavit Community Council, Executive Committee.
From 1994 to 1997 he studied at and graduated from the Academy of Civil Service with honors. In 1995 he defended his Candidates Thesis and received the degree of Candidate of Legal Sciences.
On July 5, 1995, Baghdasaryan was elected Deputy of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia of the First Convocation from the Shengavit Electoral District 5. In September 1995 he was elected the Chairman, Union of Lawyers and Political Scientists of the Republic of Armenia.
In 1997, in Moscow, he defended his doctoral dissertation and received the degree of Doctor of Legal Sciences.
In March 1998 he was elected the Chairman of the Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia.
In June 1998 he was elected the Head of the Party "Orinats Yerkir" (Rule of Law). On May 30, 1999 he was elected Deputy of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia of the 2nd Convocation from the Shengavit Electoral District Number 21, and in September 1999 was the Head of the "Orinats Yerkir" Faction of the National Assembly.
In 2000, Baghdasaryan was chosen as the Chairman of the Board of the French University of Armenia, and in 2002 of the European Regional Academy in the Caucuses. From 2001 to 2003 he was a member of the Standing Commission on Foreign Relations of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia.
On May 25, 2003 he was elected a Deputy of the Third Convocation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia. On June 12, 2003, Baghdasaryan was elected the Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia.
Although he was part of the governing coalition, in December 2005 Baghdasarian alleged that "serious ballot stuffing" occurred during the November 2005 constitutional referendum.[2] He stood as Rule of Law's candidate in the February 2008 presidential election and placed third with 17.7% of the vote according to final official results.[3]
The Law and Order party, like second place candidate Levon Ter-Petrossian, criticized the 2008 election as being flawed, and it claimed that Baghdasarian received more votes that he was given in the final results.[4] Baghdasarian, unlike some other members of his party, did not take part in the protests against the election led by Ter-Petrossian, however.[5] On February 29, 2008, he announced that he had accepted the post of Secretary of the National Security Council in a planned coalition government,[4][5] recognizing the legitimacy of the election and the victory of Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan. Although the post of Secretary of the National Security Council has previously been considered primarily ceremonial, and the Council seldom met, Sargysan said that he intended for the Council to become more active during his presidency, giving Baghdasarian the opportunity "to get fully involved in the governance of our country."[4]
He is the author of a number of scientific monographs and more than 100 scientific and analytical articles.