Election Investigations Guidebook process.58 The Council created the following categories: inadmissible claims59 (those that do not affect election results); claims involving adversarial proceedings60 but not pecuniary damages;61 and claims dealing with campaign finance issues (to be decided by the National Commission for Campaign Accounts and Political Party Financing). Short deadlines in the law can make the triage process even more imperative. In Kosovo, the Central Election Commission (CEC) decisions must be appealed to the Election Complaints and Appeals Panel (ECAP) within 24 hours of the CEC’s decision and the ECAP has 72 hours to make a decision.62 According to interlocutors, complaints “go by order” to the data entry clerk (rather than being randomized or prioritized in terms of the complaint gravity). Stakeholders have called for better sorting procedures.63 During the 2014 legislative elections, the ECAP received a total of 340 complaints and appeals. Ninety-six were approved and the rest rejected.64 These numbers show the importance of a preliminary verification or triage process for ensuring efficiency and timeliness, especially given the tight deadlines enshrined in the Kosovar legislation, but also for ensuring that complaints are not being dismissed on procedural grounds as a means of meeting such tight deadlines. However, it is imperative to note that, although the timely announcement of election results and correlated dispute resolution proceedings must take place “within a reasonable time” or “without undue delay,”65 the process “must 58 Observations du Conseil constitutionnel Relatives aux Élections Législatives des 10 et 17 juin 2007, Conseil constitutionnel [CC] [Constitutional Court], Journal Officiel de la République Française [J.O.] [Official Gazette of France], June 4, 2008, p. 9205 (Fr.). 59 Inadmissible complaints include those in which the name of the subject of the investigation is missing or the complaint was submitted after the deadline. 60 Adversarial Proceeding, Black’s Law Dictionary (9th ed. 2009) (“Adversarial proceedings” commonly refers to a court trial. Specifically, it is “any action, hearing, investigation, or inquiry brought by one party against another, in which the party seeking relief has given legal notice to and provided the opposing party with an opportunity to contest claims.”). 61 Pecuniary Damage, Black’s Law Dictionary (9th ed. 2009) (“Pecuniary damage” refers to a remedy that can be estimated in and compensated by money.). 62 Council, European Commission for Democracy Through the Law, Law No. 03/L-256 On Amending and Supplementing the Law No. 03/L-073 on General Elections in the Republic of Kosovo, art. 12 (Nov. 1, 2010), https://www.venice.coe.int/ webforms/documents/‌default.aspx?pdffile=CDL-REF(2018)017-e. 63 IFES, Training Needs Assessment for Election Complaints and Appeal Panel 7 (2016). 64 EUEOM, Final Report, 2014 Kosovo Elections 20 (2014), http://www.eods.eu/library/eu-eom-kosovo-2014-final-report_en.pdf. 65 Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Dec. 16, 1966, 999 U.N.T.S. 171, art. 14 , sec. 1(c); Council of Europe, European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, as amended by Protocols Nos. 11 and 14, Nov. 41950, E.T.S. 5, art. 6, sec. 1; Organization of American States (OAS), American Convention on Human Rights, Pact of San Jose, Costa Rica, Nov. 22 1969, art. 8. 42