Azernews.Az

Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov said Friday that it is hard to predict the winner of the presidential elections in Armenia but incumbent president Serzh Sargsyan appears to face no rivals.

Azimov told the press that the influence of the 2013 presidential elections on the negotiations to resolve the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno Karabakh conflict "should not be taken very seriously".

"Elections can be held regularly in every country. But the state position becomes clear prior to the election and does not change after it. We did not see much difference between [the stance of former Armenian president] Robert Kocharyan and Sargsyan," Azimov said.

According to him, elections in the countries co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group brokering Karabakh settlement - the United States, Russia and France – will not change the situation either.

Azimov said the interests and positions of the three countries "should direct them to the conflict resolution". Therefore, those assuming that the conflict settlement process will stagnate due to the elections are merely "looking for a pretext", he said.

Presidential elections will be held in the U.S., Russia and France in 2012.

Commenting on the expected replacement of French Minsk Group co-chair Bernard Fassier, the deputy minister said it will have no impact on the negotiating process either.

"Prior to Fassier, some [co-chairs] had regularly been replaced, but no changes occurred," Azimov said.

Armenian newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak recently reported that the French co-chair is about to be replaced by Jacques Faure, the outgoing French ambassador to Ukraine. Faure previously served as his country’s envoy to Albania, Estonia and Slovakia.