Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signalled Tuesday that he may give in to Western pressure and allow ink stamping of voters' hands in upcoming parliamentary elections in the ex-Soviet republic.

Aliyev ordered the central election commission to "quickly look at the question of marking voters' fingers," according to a copy of the order seen by AFP.

Aliyev -- whom opposition parties accuse of preparing to rig the results in the November 6 election -- also told parliament to review a ban on election monitoring by non-governmental organisations that get more than 30 percent of their funding from abroad.

Western monitoring bodies including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe have long urged Azerbaijan to implement finger inking as a safeguard against multiple voting in the November 6 poll.

Until now Azerbaijani officials have shunned the measure -- commonly introduced in countries attempting to overcome a history of stolen elections -- as an insult.

It was unclear whether Azerbaijan would follow up on a number of other Council of Europe concerns, including restrictions on public rallies.

Azerbaijan has also been urged to increase the presence of opposition representatives in election commissions and to follow through with the prosecution of fraudsters from previous polls.

Source: BakuTODAY