The presidential election in the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) Republic will see big flow of foreign observers this year, according to David Babayan, a spokesperson for the country’s president.

Speaking to Tert.am, Babayan said that the majority of observers will visit the country just days before the election or on the voting day.

Nagorno-Karabakh is electing a new president on July 19.
 

“The flow of international observers is commonly very big on those days, so we probably have to wait for them after July 15,” Babayan told Tert.am, commenting on the reports that pre-election period is very passive in the country.
 

Babayan noted that the authorities Karabakh are also interested to involve a large number of observers in the election monitoring.

As for the Azerbaijan’s threats to blacklist the observers, Babayan said such statements are unlikely to prevent their participation in the processes.
 

“Just on the contrary. I think their number will be more this. In my conviction, such bans and ‘blacklisting’ [threats] create the adverse effect for different politicians and analysts. Hence ,it will not affect the flow of observers,” he said.
 

The chairman of the NKR Central Election Commission, Rashid Petrosyan, had earlier told our correspondent that only six local election observation missions have so far registered for monitoring the polls. The deadline for their registration is 10 days before the polls. As for international organizations, they can register on the day preceding the election.