Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Markarian reportedly died of a heart attack March 25.

Kocharian today called an emergency meeting of top Armenian officials to discuss the situation.

The announcement was made today by his spokesperson. The 55-year-old Markarian, leader of the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), was appointed to the post by President Robert Kocharian in 2000.

The appointment was made in a politically tense period that followed the October 1999 armed attack on parliament that killed eight politicians, including Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsian.

Under the Armenian Constitution the prime minister is not required to be approved by the parliament.

Markarian was Armenia's longest serving prime minister since the country became independent in 1991.

His sudden death is likely to exacerbate the rivalry in the runup to the May 12 parliamentary elections between Markarian's HHK, which has a majority in the outgoing legislature, and the rival would-be "party of power," Prosperous Armenia, which is headed by a wealthy oligarch with close ties to Kocharian.

Markarian was born in Yerevan on June 12, 1951 and embarked on his political career while still in his teens, joining the clandestine National Unity Party (AMK), founded by Ashot Navasardian, in 1968.

He was arrested in 1974, and sentenced to two years in a Soviet prison camp on charges of anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda. After his release, he resumed an academic career in electronics and computer engineering.

In 1992, following the collapse of the USSR, Markarian joined the HHK, created by Navasardian two years earlier as the successor party to the AMK.

Markarian was elected chairman of the AMK in 1993, and chairman in 1997. In 1996, he also joined the influential Yerkrapah union of veterans of the Nagorno-Karabakh war, the organization whose parliament deputies triggered the resignation of President Levon Ter-Petrossian in February 1998 by withdrawing their support for him.

Markarian was elected a parliament deputy in 1995, and again in 1999. Kocharian named him prime minister in May 2000. In that post, he has presided over a period of double-digit economic growth but has consistently adopted a tough line on such key issues as the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and Armenian-Turkish relations.

Speaking to journalists in May 2005 on the fifth anniversary of his appointment as prime minister, Markarian attributed his political longevity to "teamwork, [setting] realistic objectives, and the ability to achieve them. It's not because of my beautiful eyes," RFE/RL's Armenian Service quoted him as saying.

In an interview with RFE/RL's Armenian Service in December, Markarian said: "I do not wish to say that there are no negative aspects in Armenia and that [those negative aspects] were eradicated during my premiership. During my tenure we openly spoke about all the problems and shortcomings, starting with poverty and the [un]equal distribution of wealth. We spoke openly about these things and we spoke more openly about these things than the opposition did. We also battled corruption and we admitted there was much corruption and we needed to fight against it.... We were saying there are problems and we are taking steps against them."

He added: "In every country there should be some discontent, beginning in the United States and on through Europe. Where can you say there is no discontent? A country that has no discontent means it is totalitarian."

Markarian
was known to have heart trouble and had at least one heart operation. A longtime smoker, he had been hospitalized on several occasions in recent years and had visible respiratory problems.

Markarian is survived by a wife, two daughters, and a son.