Western monitors said yesterday a parliamentary election in ex-Soviet Belarus that produced no seats for the opposition fell short of international standards despite minor improvements over previous polls.

The EU had said it might consider easing sanctions, which include a ban on entry to the US and EU for President Alexander Lukashenko and 40 top officials, if the election went well.

Mr Lukashenko, voting on Sunday, said it would be "hard for those among the Western monitors not to recognise the election".

Monitors had said in the run-up to the vote that they had been impressed with the staging of the poll. But their report said the count had been plagued by problems and cheating and access had been hindered in 35 per cent of cases. "Voting was generally well conducted but the process deteriorated considerably during the vote count. Promises to ensure transparency of the vote count were not implemented," the montiors' report said.

"The count was assessed as bad or very bad in 48 per cent of polling stations visited. Where access was possible several cases of deliberate falsification of results were observed."

The report quoted senior OSCE monitor Anne-Marie Lizin as saying that the signal to improve the electoral system was "not implemented and substantial improvements are required if Belarus is to conduct a genuinely democratic election".

The Belarus economy is largely state controlled, with high subsidies and public sector wages. The last year, however, has brought decisions to proceed with targeted privatisations and Minsk seeks to increase foreign investment - an ambition that requires European or US government approval of some sort.

EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner noted the mission's positive and negative observations, but went no further in her initial statement.

Observers said they were disappointed at the shortcomings. "Our statement does not slam any doors, on the contrary it calls for cooperation," Geert Ahrens, head of the OSCE mission, told a news conference.