The Pacific Islands Forum says it would only send an election observer team to Nauru if the island's government requested it.
This comes after two former presidents of Nauru called for observers to be sent immediately in the wake of controversial changes to voting legislation.
RNZI reports the government, which has little opposition, is forcing public servants wanting to stand to resign their jobs three months before the poll and dramatically increased charges for prospective candidates and people moving constituencies.
The former presidents - Marcus Stephen and Sprent Dabwido - want the Forum and the Commonwealth to send monitors now because the changes are undermining the democratic process.
The Forum secretary general, Dame Meg Taylor, said the agency takes any allegations of electoral impropriety very seriously.
But she said the Forum would need an invitation from the Nauru government before it could send in a team of suitably qualified regional electoral experts.
Meanwhile, a commentator on Pacific affairs is backing the Pacific Islands Forum's response.
TNC Pacific's principal, Tess Newton Cain, says Dame Meg Taylor's reference to regional co-ordination in times of crisis was appropriate given the protocols and procedures around sending election observer teams.
"I'm very pleased to see that she's referenced Nauru's accession to the Biketawa Declaration and what that means for principals of good governance. And I'm also pleased to see that she's acknowledged that she's taken note of the issues that the members of the current opposition in Nauru have read in their letter," Cain said.