Artur Baghdasaryan
Artur Baghdasaryan (, born November 8, 1968) is an Armenian politician and former Chairman of the National Assembly of Armenia and a former Secretary of the National Security Council of Armenia. He is the leader of the Rule of Law party. He is married and has two children. Biography. Baghdasaryan was born in Yerevan. In 1985, he finished the Khachatur Abovian Secondary School in Yerevan. In the same year, he entered the Law Faculty of Yerevan State University and graduated in 1992. He served in the army from 1988 to 1989. Political career. Although he was part of the  governing coalition, in December 2005 Baghdasaryan alleged that "serious ballot stuffing" occurred during the November 2005 constitutional referendum. 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. The Rule of Law Party and the second place candidate Levon Ter-Petrossian both criticized the 2008 election as being flawed, and the party claimed that Baghdasaryan received more votes that he was given in the final results. Baghdasaryan, unlike some other members of his party, did not take part in the protests against the  election led by Ter-Petrossian, however. On February 29, 2008, he announced that he had accepted the post of Secretary of the National Security Council in a planned coalition government, 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 Baghdasaryan the opportunity "to get fully involved in the governance of our country." He is the author of a  number of scientific monographs and more than 100 scientific and analytical articles. Baghdasaryan currently acts as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the European University of Armenia.