Brussels, 15/05/2008 (Agence Europe) - Through its many electoral observation missions throughout the world, the EU has become the top international election observation organisation, the European Parliament says in a report by Véronique de Keyser (PES, Belgium) and José Ignacio Salafranca (EPP-ED, Spain) on election observation missions, adopted on 8 May. By thus encouraging the democratisation process, the EU has increased its visibility on the international stage, MEPs say, and they want the EP to have an increased role in these missions and in the immediate post-electoral period. The EP highlights the need for proper follow-up to missions. It says, too, that the experience of former MEPs could be useful to electoral observation missions, especially since, in MEPs' view, EP observation teams all too often in the past have not had enough members. Similarly, the EP recommends that knowledge of the language used in the country where the elections are taking place should be optional in the appointment of observers. Among challenges still to be met, MEPs highlight the growing use of electronic voting, which has seen the rise of a new kind of electoral fraud. The Commission has been invited to take the appropriate measures to ensure reliable observation of this kind of voting. (H.B.)