IFES Practitioner Brief on Alternative Dispute Resolution in Elections They are trained to identify and mediate electoral and Code of Conduct disputes. Panelists are approved by the local party liaison committees and enjoy the respect and trust of political parties and the community. The panelists and coordinators work together to ensure that threats and risks of conflict are mitigated, with the panelists working directly to prevent violence. Despite general apprehension that the 2014 elections risked devolving into widespread violence, there was no large-scale violence around those elections or the 2019 elections, which was attributed to the panelists and their “…success [in mitigating these conflicts] by simply listening to people.” 102 Electoral violence and disputes with criminal elements are dealt with by the criminal justice system. If a conflict panelist is dispatched to a situation where there is a grave or criminal violation of the Electoral Code of Conduct, the panelist will advise on a referral of the violation and how to access the criminal or Electoral Court. Panelists can also bring a matter to the attention of the IEC. The legal department of the IEC will then review the issue and refer it to the court if it is sufficiently serious. Some changes were made to the deployment of conflict panelists in the November 2021 elections. Panelists were deployed full-time, in contrast to their previous deployment on an as-needed basis. Additionally, coordinators were integrated into Joint Operation Centers (JOCs), which are bodies composed of emergency personnel and members of the police and defense forces. These centers were instructed to provide the necessary support to the IEC during emergency situations during the elections. 103 Working with the local party liaison committees, panelists can flag issues that are then fed into the JOC. These are then reported to the provincial JOCs and forwarded to the national JOC, allowing for all security infrastructures to be aware of risks of electoral conflict. In terms of reporting, conflict panelists are not required to submit reports in written form, 104 leading to much of the panelists’ work occurring without being recorded in any significant way. 105 During the 2021 elections, the IEC launched an electoral justice online application portal to inform people of the available dispute resolution processes and make it easier to report Code of Conduct infringements. However, IFES was not able to find information on the number or type of disputes where the IEC or conflict panels used conciliation or mediation in the last elections. Some interviewees considered that the IEC should move toward digital collection and management of data as part of an early warning system to detect potential conflicts. The nature of conflict has changed in South Africa since the 1990s, with many pointing to the unrest in July 2021 as a measure of this change. Collection and analysis of local data could inform IEC decisions in identifying threats and in mitigating and handling conflict. 106 This could include decisions to deploy panelists and other relevant structures to affected communities. Data collection about the panels’ work could be made public to increase transparency and public trust. Despite their successes, the IEC budget and investments in the panels have decreased over the years. Some commentators recommend that the IEC ensure the panelists have the structure to be retained long-term and facilitate Senior IEC manager, personal communication, November–December 2021. South African Government. (2021, October 27). MEC Lenah Miga visits the provincial joint operation centre ahead of local government elections, 28 Oct [Press release]. Retrieved from https://www.gov.za/speeches/mec-miga-visits-provincial-joint-operation-centre-aheadlocal-government-elections-28-oct 104 Project to Prevent, Mitigate and Manage Election-Related Conflict and Potential Violence in South Africa (PEV-RSA). (2018). Holding the electoral space: A toolkit on election conflict for the Electoral Commission of South Africa. 105 Senior IEC manager, personal communication, November–December 2021. 106 Ibid. 102 103 49