The mission of OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and observers of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will ask PACE to restart the monitoring mechanism on Bulgaria, Tadeusz Iwinski, head of PACE delegation told a July 6 2009 news conference as quoted by Dnevnik daily.

Their decision comes in the wake of perceived irregularities in the July 5 national elections.

The monitoring mechanism was terminated when Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007.

Overall, the elections were generally conducted in accordance with international standards, but further efforts are necessary to ensure the integrity of the election process and increase public confidence, ODIHR and PACE said in their joint July 6 2009 statement, which is also published on their websites.

Observers noted that the elections provided voters a broad choice in a visible and active election campaign demonstrating respect for fundamental freedoms. But late changes to the election system, concerns about the effectiveness of law enforcement and the judiciary, as well as pervasive and persistent allegations of vote-buying, negatively affected the election environment.

"These elections were competitive and generally well run. But concrete measures are now needed to ensure full public confidence in the process, and particularly to eliminate electoral malpractices and strengthen the legal system," said ambassador Colin Munro, head of the OSCE/ODIHR limited election observation mission.

"Despite grave imperfections linked to last minute changes in the electoral legislation and repeated allegations of vote buying that surrounded the 5 July elections, I am hopeful that Bulgaria will put existing problems to rest and fully justify its membership in the community of democratic values," said Tadeusz Iwinski, head of the PACE delegation.

The observers said election day - overall - appeared to proceed in a calm and orderly manner, although there were reported cases of attempted fraud involving absentee voting.