Following on from what some civil society and pro-opposition activists are calling an “Armenian Watergate,” RFE/RL has an update on the apparent scandal surrounding the clandestine recording of a meeting between Orinats Yerkir party leader, Artur Baghdasarian, and the Deputy Head of Mission of the British Embassy, Richard Hyde, in February. Now, the Armenian President, Robert Kocharian, is reported to have accused Baghdasarian of treason.

Statements reportedly made by Armenia’s former parliament speaker Artur Baghdasarian in his secretly recorded conversation with a senior British diplomat constitute high treason, President Robert Kocharian claimed on Friday.

It was Kocharian’s first public reaction to the publication by a pro-presidential newspaper of purported details of Baghdasarian’s recent private meeting with the number two official in the British embassy in Yerevan. The leader of the opposition Orinats Yerkir Party was quoted as urging the European Union to criticize the Armenian authorities’ handling of the upcoming parliamentary elections.

“It’s hard to imagine that the former chairman of the National Assembly could fall so low,” Kocharian told students at Yerevan State University. “I don’t want to use legal terms. For me, this is a real manifestation of treason. That manifestation is all the more ugly given that it was done at his own initiative.”

Kocharian made it clear, however, that Baghdasarian will not be prosecuted under a relevant article of the Armenian Criminal Code. “We have received hundreds of phone calls in connection with that fact, various kinds of comments as to how such a politician can take part in the elections,” he said. “But I don’t think it would be right for state bodies to come up with some tough actions.

“The elections are coming up, and let every voter decide whether patriotism and dignity matters to them. If it doesn’t, let them vote [for Baghdasarian’s party.]”

Coincidentally, I bumped into Tigran Mkrtchyan, Orinats Yerkir’s Foreign Affairs Spokesperson, who I recently discovered reads this blog, on the street last night, and he said that the accusation from the President is of concern to the party. In particular, he said that they fear it represents a move to counter growing popularity of the party among voters. Basically, it is part of a smear campaign.

On the other hand, when Kocharian comes out with statements like this, past experience has shown that it can also backfire and have the opposite effect. Meanwhile, the President is also reported to have warned against any street protests looking to replicate colored revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine, although I think they are now unavoidable and can pretty much now be expected.

Meeting with university students and professors in Yerevan, Kocharian said the Armenian authorities will do “everything in their power” to ensure the freedom and fairness of the May 12 vote. But he stressed that the country’s leading political parties, which appoint most members of various-level election commissions, are equally responsible for its proper conduct.

Kocharian claimed that opposition parties are preparing ground for allegations of massive vote rigging by making what he described as highly unrealistic assessments of their popularity. “So it is very likely that after May 12 we will see a number of news conferences, and the dissatisfied section of election contenders will definitely state that the elections were rigged,” he said.

“The danger is that after such declarations a question will arise: If somebody stole your votes, why aren’t you reclaiming your votes and what are the ways of reclaiming your votes? Perhaps one of those ways is to once again try to undermine the country’s political stability. They may test it, but there would definitely be an adequate response. Nobody should doubt that.”

Some of the opposition contenders, notably the radical Hanrapetutyun (Republic) party, make no secret of their plans to use the vote for launching another campaign of street protests aimed at overthrowing the Kocharian administration. Other, more moderate opposition parties have not ruled out the possibility of joining anti-government demonstrations in the event of large-scale electoral abuse.

Making the situation all the more interesting now is news that three opposition parties have decided to unite with the aim of removing the new Prime Minister, Serzh Sarkisyan, as well as the President, from office. For now, however, I don’t believe they stand much of a chance of doing so, but that could all change depending on how parties such as Orinats Yerkir decide to react to any possible falsification on 12 May.