Hovannisian, a descendant of Armenian genocide survivors, was born in Fresno, California to a family of professors.

[3] Hovannisian called the movement 'Barevolution', a portmanteau of 'barev' (բարև, 'hello') and 'revolution', referring to his habit of walking up to people and greeting them during the election campaign.

[19] On March 2, 1992 as the Foreign Minister of Armenia, Hovannisian raised the Armenian tricolor at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

[20] He served in that position until October 16, 1992, when he was forced to resign,[21] because he and President Levon Ter-Petrosyan took two very different approaches to Armenian national issues.

A recent poll in the Armenian newspaper Epokha found that he enjoyed a mind-boggling 96% approval rating, more than President Ter-Petrosyan.

"[23] However, Hovannisian was later dismissed in 1992 from his position as Foreign Minister due to his disagreements with Ter-Petrosyan on the issue of relations with Turkey.

Specifically, he was critical of Ter-Petrosyan for his urgent desire for normalization of relations with Turkey without stressing the issue of the Armenian Genocide.

The final straw occurred when Hovannisian chose to bring up the issue while in Istanbul in late 1992 on a state visit.

[29] After regional unrest spurred Armenian merchants to demonstrate in Yerevan against a ban on street trading, Heritage and other political parties began to organize more ambitious rallies aimed at forcing broad governmental changes.

[30] On 15 March 2011, hoping to draw attention to his party's cause, Hovannisian began a public hunger strike in a small protest camp in Yerevan's Freedom Square.

The unity of the opposition was strained when Levon Ter-Petrosyan, leader of the Armenian National Congress, led demonstrators into Freedom Square two nights later and allegedly ignored Hovannisian and his supporters.

Hovannisian ended his hunger strike on 30 March, but has remained active in protests against President Serzh Sargsyan and his government.

Hovannisian ran on a nationalist platform, with strong views on the Armenian genocide recognition and Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan.