New politicians and opposition parties are emerging in Armenia, second president Robert Kocharyan said.

“This process will certainly lead to the creation of a powerful political force capable of challenging the authorities very soon,” he said in written answers to questions sent by Reuters.

Kocharyan also added that he will be involved in the opposition, but gave no details.

As to the last year’s change of power in Armenia, Kocharyan said it was caused by “accumulated discontent in the society and desire for change”, but were not a revolution.

“I would not call it a revolution as fundamentally nothing has changed in the country, except for the appearance of a big share of aggression in the society, and populism and dilettantism in the leadership,” he said.

The second president also commented on the March 1, 2008 events and defended his actions.

“Order was restored only after the introduction of the state of emergency and thanks to it,” he said. “Not doing that would have meant official inaction on the part of the president.”