 Scuttled alliance: People's Party of Armenia leader Stepan Demirchian
Founded by Karen Demirchian, Armenia's Soviet-era Communist leader, shortly after the 1998 presidential election, the PPA became a governing party after its alliance with the Republican Party of Armenia swept to a landslide victory in the 1999 parliamentary elections. The alliance collapsed following the October 1999 terrorist attack on the Armenian parliament, which left Demirchian, Prime Minister and RPA head Vazgen Sarkisian (no relation to Serzh Sarkisian), plus six other senior officials dead.
The PPA has since been led by Demirchian's son, Stepan, who was Kocharian's main opposition challenger in the 2003 presidential election. Just like his late father in the 1998 election, Demirchian claimed to have been robbed of victory by Kocharian. He went on to become the top leader of the now defunct Justice alliance, comprising the PPA and eight other opposition parties, which finished second in the 2003 parliamentary elections. Justice was disbanded earlier in 2007 amid growing differences between Demirchian and other alliance leaders. The PPA controls most of the bloc's commission seats.
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