Brussels, 14/06/2006 (Agence Europe) - At the request of the Bolivian minister for foreign affairs, David Choquehuanca, the European Commission has deployed an electoral observer mission (EOM) on behalf of the EU to monitor the election of the Constituent Assembly and the referendum on regional autonomy, planned for 2 July. The Assembly will be responsible for drafting a new constitution and deciding on whether regional autonomy should figure in the Constitution. The EU mission will be lead by Monica Frassoni, co-president of the Greens/EFA group at the European Parliament. Arriving in La Paz during the week of 24 May, the EOM was joined by 26 long term observers deployed throughout the country to observe the election campaign and pre-election preparations, as well as the voting and post-electoral period. 60 short term observers and possibly some diplomats from the embassies of the EU Member States in La Paz will be observing how the voting is carried out, as well as how the counting up of the votes is done and the compilation of the results. The Commission has released €1 790,000 from the European initiative for democracy and human rights, to cover the costs of this mission.