President Ilham Aliyev's office on Tuesday rejected European criticism of the government's preparations for the weekend parliamentary election, saying that authorities had significantly liberalized election procedures.

Aliyev's office said a critical assessment of preparations for the election by the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe failed to take into account the government's agreement last week to take steps to prevent fraud. The steps include the use of invisible ink and ultraviolet light monitors to prevent people from voting more than once.

Aliyev also directed that Azeri nongovernmental organizations that receive more than 30 percent of their funding from foreign sources should be allowed to monitor the balloting. Such organizations had previously been banned from monitoring. And he instructed election authorities to ensure that voter lists include voters' addresses.

"I am sure that if the paper had reflected the president's instructions of Oct. 25, many of the criticisms would have lost their actuality," said Ali Hasanov, director of the social and political department of the presidential administration. He said that the report had reviewed the situation only until Oct. 21.