The leader of Armenia’s main opposition alliance has made overtures to a major pro-establishment party, implying that its current reported differences with the larger coalition partner meet his bloc’s interests.

Addressing supporters at a rally in Yerevan on Friday Armenian National Congress (ANC) leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan predicted more high-profile dismissals and resignations in the government, describing such developments as an indication of growing differences within the ruling coalition, in particular between the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) and its junior partner, Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), led by tycoon Gagik Tsarukyan and believed to be ex-president Robert Kocharyan’s brainchild.

At the same time, Ter-Petrosyan urged the PAP to distinctly distance itself from the Kocharyan legacy, including the deadly suppression of the opposition’s street protests in 2008. He also warned that if the party again teams up with the RPA at next year’s parliamentary elections it will “lose its face completely”.

“Now it is difficult to predict how far the differences within the coalition will aggravate, but if it turns out that Prosperous Armenia genuinely intends to fight for free and fair elections, then in my opinion – I emphasize it that it is in my and not in the ANC’s opinion – the ANC should be ready to seriously consider the prospect and possibility of cooperating with it,” said Ter-Petrosyan.

The opposition leader’s remarks came against the backdrop of unconfirmed media reports about the PAP’s agreement to form a single bloc with the RPA to contest next year’s parliamentary elections.

In the past several months media have repeatedly speculated about growing differences between the two coalition partners as a possible indication of covert rivalry between incumbent president Sargsyan and his predecessor Kocharyan. The latest battleground for that perceived rivalry was the mayoral race earlier this month in the northern town of Ijevan where the PAP-backed candidate unseated the incumbent mayor who enjoyed the RPA’s support.

Some analysts described the PAP’s success in the small provincial town as an early indication of the party’s greater ambitions in the next parliamentary vote due in May.

Ter-Petrosyan denied the ANC had supported the PAP in the Ijevan race, as was alleged by some media. But he still refused to reprimand any of the ANC local chapter members who might have personally assisted the PAP campaign. He implied the struggle was against the regime and therefore was justifiable.

Meanwhile, the ANC presented what its coordinator Levon Zurabyan described as legal grounds for impeaching Sargsyan. The “Declaration” of legal reasons for Sargsyan’s resignation listed a dozen violations of the Constitution that the incumbent head of state had allegedly committed before and after assuming the presidential post.

Zurabyan said the ANC will pursue the case legally, with “mass protests” accompanying this legal battle. The oppositionist announced that one such street march will be staged on December 10, which is marked as International Human Rights Day.