A political analyst attaching great importance to the formation of a coalition at the National Assembly, states that Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) would by all means “gain in this political deal,” whereas Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) would lose.

Armenia’s former president Robert Kocharyan has criticized the activities of the current government but stopped short of explicitly indicating his return to major politics as he gave an exclusive interview to the Mediamax news agency published on Thursday.

“There is a strong public expectation for changes in Armenia and that means that the degree of apathy of the society is not irreversible and it’s a substantially positive phenomenon. To what degree the people relate the changes to my return to active politics – that’s what I am concerned about. I don’t have a full answer to this question yet,” said Kocharyan.

Resolutions adopted by the European Union Parliament Wednesday “praise Armenia’s reform ambitions and energy cooperation to date with Azerbaijan, but also warn against human rights breaches, in connection the 2012 Eurovision song contest in Baku, Azerbaijan and the 6 May parliamentary elections in Armenia,” an EU statement says.

More than half the country does not expect a fair election on May 6 when the National Assembly is selected, according to a survey by an internationally-renowned opinion polling agency.

Gallup International Association will conduct exit polling during the May 6 parliamentary election – the first time the renowned social research methodology has been applied in Armenia.

At a meeting with university students held in the resort town of Tsaghkadzor on Monday president Serzh Sargsyan responded to the opposition claims of inaccuracies in Armenia’s official voter registers, saying that the authorities have not inflated them.

Agriculture Minister Sergo Karapetian on Thursday appeared to urge Armenians to vote for President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party, rather than its coalition partner Orinats Yerkir, of which he is a senior member and candidate in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

In response to Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev’s statement, made earlier at the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly session in Baku in which Aliyev referred to Armenians as “fascists”, ARF Dashnaktsutyun Party MP Lilit Galstyan expressed her protest saying that as a founding member of the Socialists, she “cannot accept being treated like fascists by anybody, whatever his rank is in his country…”.

Armenia’s main extra-parliamentary opposition held on Friday what appears to be its last public rally before the official start of campaigning for the May parliamentary elections.

Several thousand members and supporters of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) gathered in Yerevan’s Liberty Square in the evening to hear their leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan step up his anti-government rhetoric and calling for real measures to ensure a free and fair ballot on May 6.

The Armenian parliament that has only one session to go before its term expires in early May has been trying hard to pass the emergency law in its final version. If adopted, the law would legitimize the use of the army in enforcing public peace.