Andrias Marati Ghukasyan () is an

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

n political analyst. Ghukasyan was one of seven candidates in the 2013 presidential election.

Early life

In 1987, he finished secondary school at N83. In the same year he entered the

Yerevan State University Yerevan State University (YSU; , , ), also simply University of Yerevan, is the oldest continuously operating public university in Armenia. Founded in 1919, it is the largest university in the country. It is thus informally known as Armenia's ...

Department of Economics. From 1988 to 1989, he served in the

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

. In 1994, he graduated from

having an "Economic Cybernetics" specialty and received a degree in economics-mathematics. In 2005, he graduated from the St. Petersburg International Economic Relations, Economics and Law Institute, earning his bachelor's degree in Jurisprudence.

Politics

Hunger strike

On January 21, 2013, Ghukasyan started a hunger strike in front of the

Armenian National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (NAS RA) (, ''Hayastani Hanrapetut’yan gitut’yunneri azgayin akademia'') is the Armenian national academy, functioning as the primary body that conducts research and coordinates activ ...

building in

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

. He had a large poster, written in Armenian and English demanding to "Stop fake elections". Finishing his protest after the results were announced, Ghukasyan, together with another opposition candidate, Raffi Hovhannisian, a US-born Armenian politician who is the founder of the Heritage Party
filed an appeal
with the Armenian Constitutional Court to dispute the results of the election (which gave incumbent

Serzh Sargsyan Serzh Azati Sargsyan (, ; born 30 June 1954)Official biography of Serzh Sargsyan

a second term).

Rise up, Armenia

On July 16, 2015 he co-founded the Rise up, Armenia movement. It opposes raising electricity tariffs and organizes rallies against raising electricity tariffs generally in Republic Square. On August 21, 2015 he with other Rise up, Armenia members was apprehended during a rally, freed after several hours. He was arrested in July 2016, during the

2016 Yerevan hostage crisis On 17 July 2016, a group of armed men calling themselves the ''Daredevils of Sasun'' (; the name is taken from an epic poem) stormed a police station in Yerevan, Armenia and took nine hostages. They demanded the release of opposition leader Ji ...

Armenian Constructive Party

In July 2018, Andrias Ghukasyan established the Armenian Constructive Party. In May 2021, the Armenian Constructive Party joined the

Free Homeland Alliance The Free Homeland Alliance () is a political alliance between five political parties in Armenia. History The alliance was founded in May 2021 and subsequently announced its intention to participate in the 2021 Armenian parliamentary elections. M ...

to participate in early parliamentary elections.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghuksyan, Andrias Armenian political scientists Armenian politicians Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Hunger strikers