Hovik Abrahamyan

Early life

Abrahamyan, born in Mkhchyan village in Armenia's Ararat Province, began his professional career in 1990 as the department head of the Burastan Brandy Factory and later as the president of Artashat wine-brandy factory. In 1995 he became a member of the Armenian parliament. He became Mayor of Artashat in 1996, and the governor of Ararat Province in 1998.

Political career

Under President Robert Kocharyan's administration, in 2005 he was appointed Minister of the Territorial Administration (which oversees regional government structures), serving until 2008 when he resigned in order to be appointed in April 2008 by the newly elected President Serzh Sargsyan as head of his presidential staff. In August 2008 he was re-elected in an uncontested election (in a seat vacated by the resignation of Abrahamian's older brother, Henrikto) to the National Assembly (fourth convocation), and in September 2008 he was elected as President of the National Assembly of Armenia. He resigned as president in November 2011 and was re-elected to the National Assembly on May 6, 2012 as a member of the Republican Party of Armenia. He opposed his predecessor's asset declaration draft law that would have required Armenian politicians and senior public officials to declare their business holdings and business interests.

Prime Minister

He was appointed as Prime Minister in April 2014 following the resignation of Tigran Sargsyan for officially unknown reasons (though the controversial pension reform law caused widespread criticism). Abrahamyan was nominated for the role of prime minister by President Serzh Sargsyan calling him a "very effective new prime minister." He was congratulated by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

Public image

In various cables sent in 2008, Joseph Pennington, Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Yerevan, characterized Abrahamyan as being "regarded by outside observers - and many Armenians - as an unpolished, poorly educated and parochial figure, a crass nouveau riche whose brand of dirty-money politics, abuse of state "administrative resources", and cunning opportunism is in the worst tradition of recent Armenian politics", as "an oily, machine politician ... at the center of a purposeful effort to abuse agencies and offices of local government to arm-twist every vote he possibly can for the prime minister", the "chief operating officer of the dirtiest and most coercive tactics of Serzh Sargsian's presidential election campaign", and "an unsophisticated thug" whose "instincts are not progressive".

Also in 2008, US Ambassador to Armenia Marie Yovanovitch described Abrahamian as a politician who uses his political power to promote his business interests. He has also been reported as owning more than two dozen companies, including three sand mines on the Araks river; 1,500 hectares of grape fields in Artashat; more than 10 gas stations outside Yerevan; one third of "Ararat Cement"; casinos; petrol stations; and a $7 million summer home in the Crimea. He opposed his predecessor's asset declaration draft law that would have required Armenian politicians and senior public officials to declare their business holdings and business interests.

Abrahamyan's son, Argam, is married to a daughter of Gagik Tsarukyan, oligarch and Prosperous Armenia party leader.