[6] He was arrested by Soviet authorities on December 10, 1988, along with other members of the Karabakh Committee, and spent 6 months in Moscow's Matrosskaya Tishina prison.

[6][1] On September 26, 1991, Vazgen Manukyan resigned as prime minister and founded his own party, the National Democratic Union (NDU),[11] and has since served as its chairman.

[13] In the 1996 Armenian presidential elections, Vazgen Manukyan received the support of the major opposition parties and was the main challenger to incumbent President Levon Ter-Petrosyan.

According to the official results, Manukyan received 41% of the votes, losing to Ter-Petrosyan without a runoff election.

The opposition disputed the results of the elections and major protests broke out in Yerevan, which were suppressed by the police and military.

His father, Mikael Manuki Manukyan, was a doctor of sciences and a professor at Yerevan State University.

His mother, Astghik Hmayaki Hakobyan, was born in Gyumri and graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Yerevan State University.

[33] On July 5, 1988, after Karabakh protestors clashed with Soviet troops at Zvartnots Airport,[8] Vazgen Manukyan gave a speech at Opera Square calling for a nationwide strike for the first time.

[34][35] On August 19, 1988, at the Opera Square Vazgen Manukyan announced about the creation of the "Pan-Armenian National Movement" (ANM) and presents its ideological principles.

[41] Vazgen Manukyan maintained a strong layer of professionals, experienced ministers and directors of large factories, who played a major role in establishing full relations with the new government, the USSR economic structures.

[43][44][45][46][47][48][41] On September 25, 1991, due to growing disagreements with Levon Ter-Petrosyan and other members of the ANM, Manukyan resigned as prime minister and founded his own party called the National Democratic Union.

This created the frontline between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces that remained essentially unchanged until the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.

[52][53] In the September 1996 presidential election, Vazgen Manukyan was the main contender against incumbent president Levon Ter-Petrosyan.

Although Ter-Petrosyan was initially expected to win by a large margin due to the opposition being divided, three other candidates dropped out of the race and endorsed Manukyan.

On September 25, Manukyan came to the Armenian parliament with a large crowd of 150–200,000 of his supporters to demand that the Central Electoral Commission check three randomly chosen ballot boxes from each province for fraud.