He is a member of the country's Republican Party and was the 8th mayor of the Armenian capital since Armenia's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Zakharyan was born in the village of Saler in the Shamkir region of the Azerbaijan SSR.

[1] He worked in the Yerevan trust "Basemetalsconstruct" from 1962 to 1963 and as a rigger in the plant "Razdanconstruct" in 1963 to 1964.

He served as an engineer and chief of the zone of the constructional administration "Warmconstrict" during the rest of the 1960s, while simultaneously attending Yerevan Polytechnic Institute (where he graduated from 1968).

[2] In September 2019, the Special Investigative Service of Armenia has initiated a criminal case, on the grounds of abuse of office, against Yervand Zakharyan.