Via What Democracy Means, the Armenian President has apparently set 12 May as the date for Armenia’s Parliamentary Election. This is the date that many expected, and PanArmenian.Net confirms this.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Parliamentary elections in Armenia will be held May 12, 2007. Yesterday Armenian President Robert Kocharian signed the corresponding decree, the PanARMENIAN.Net journalist was told in presidential Press Office.

Meanwhile, RFE/RL reports that one of the parties making up the current coalition Government, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation — Dashnaktsutyun (ARF-D), has said that it will not support the presidential ambitions of the Defense Minister, Serzh Sarkisyan.

A top leader of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) repeated on Monday that the influential party will not support Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian in next year’s presidential election.

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Dashnaktsutyun, meanwhile, is continuing to distance itself from President Robert Kocharian’s cabinet in which it is represented by four ministers. Markarian showed journalists newly printed booklets that describe the party’s track record in government as a success. The pre-election booklets at the same time tell voters that Dashnaktsutyun has only 11 seats in the current 131-seat National Assembly and lacks influence on government policies.

However, the news item also reports that these latest words from what is still a small political party in Armenia might be an attempt to get something in return for their continued obedience to the ruling regime. As some party activists lament, this seems to be the ARF-D’s trademark to date.

The remarks came just days after one of Sarkisian’s closest associates, Deputy Defense Minister Artur Aghabekian, confirmed reports that he will resign his post next month to contest the upcoming parliamentary elections on the Dashnaktsutyun ticket. The development is quite extraordinary given the fact that Sarkisian’s relationship with the nationalist party has been quite frosty.

It has fueled speculation that the Armenian defense chief is courting the Dashnaks to back his presidential bid and is ready to name Aghabekian defense minister in return. Most of the other, more powerful government forces have already rallied around him.

For sure, the party has always wanted control over one of Armenia’s “power ministries,” and has recently been making statements more akin to political blackmail than democracy building in Armenia. Still, that’s nothing new for any political force in Armenia. Regardless, the game is now well and truly on.