IFES Practitioner Brief on Alternative Dispute Resolution in Elections a military coup, their use should still be encouraged to resolve local community disputes in Myanmar, outside of elections. The participation of women and the enthusiasm of mediators in taking part in dialogue and reaching settlement confirmed to IFES the importance of expanding mediation in Myanmar. 137 In Myanmar, with the exception of voter registration and candidate nomination objections, the EDR process is centralized in the capital, Naypyidaw. The system for resolution of election results petitions does not provide for an independent and impartial arbiter, nor for judicial review of UEC or Election Tribunal decisions. In an effort to defuse tensions during the pre-election period and address the lack of decentralized adjudication mechanisms, the UEC established election mediation committees (EMCs) for the first time in 2015. The commission issued a notification at the start of the campaign period, which did not include many details about the mandate or the roles and responsibilities of the committees. The absence of rules or training in 2015 left the door open for inconsistency across the Myanmar’s regions and states. In some instances of mediation, the major political parties reached a resolution to the detriment of the weaker party or independent candidates by means of an unequal process in which the weaker party did not have a fair opportunity to contribute its views. In 2020, the UEC adopted an amendment to its regulations to institutionalize EMCs for pre-election disputes. The challenges mentioned above were partly remedied in the 2020 general election preparations through the training of more than 850 election officials—chairs of EMCs—at the township, district, and regional levels. The UEC, with the support of IFES, developed an EMC guidebook and a voter education poster on the role of mediation committees; produced an EMC training video; and disseminated frequently asked questions to inform candidates, political parties, and voters of this mechanism for dealing with disputes from the start of the campaign up to Election Day. EMCs played a prominent role in resolving disputes in the pre-election period, which was commended by observers (see text box and graphic, next page). 138 Similarly, the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) reported that stakeholders found EMCs resolved election disputes promptly during the campaign and that the disputes escalated beyond the township level. As EMCs played a vital role in Myanmar’s elections, it is essential to monitor their progress in mediating political party disputes, identify gaps and challenges, and consider improvements to EMCs for future elections. Unfortunately, the UEC did not gather official data on EMCs’ resolution of disputes and failed to communicate to the public information on the outcomes of the mediation process and the nature of the 137 Several organizations have led successful mediation projects at the community level in Myanmar. These include Mercy Corps, with which IFES partnered on the design of the EMC training curriculum and selection of trainers/mediators in 2020. 138 The Carter Center. (2020. November 10). Election observation mission Myanmar, general election, November 8, 2020: Preliminary statement. https://www.cartercenter.org/resources/pdfs/news/peace_publications/election_reports/myanmar-preliminary-statement112020.pdf 54