for an offense such as failing to post the list of voters in the correct location. 70 IFES
recommended that the legislative authority delink criminal and electoral law and establish
sanctions more appropriate for the offenses in question, such as fines, loss of media access,
campaign restrictions, and public apologies, recommendations that were ultimately put into
effect by the legislature. 71
Whether a remedy is proportional to a violation depends on a variety of different factors.
For example, in the U.S., certain factors will increase recommended sentences for election fraud
under the sentencing guidelines, including whether a defendant occupies a leadership or
supervisory role in an election fraud scheme or abuses a position of public or private trust; if
individual voters are viewed as vulnerable victims; if there is obstruction; or if the election fraud
involved corrupting a public official.72 As outlined by this example, to measure the proportionality
of remedies, one must consider the violation, the impact it has had on the entire process, what
will correct the mistake or wrongdoing, and what deterrence is required to ensure others do not
repeat the illegal act or careless mistake.
4.
A remedy must be enforceable
The right to a remedy cannot be effective if the remedy is not implemented, but
enforcement requires the cooperation of diverse authorities responsible for the implementation
of administrative or judicial decisions.73 The enforcement component of a remedy is the critical
element that distinguishes it from simply an idea or decision, and actualizes the right in a tangible
manner. In the 1838 case Kendall v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court observed that “[t]he
power to enforce the performance of the act must rest somewhere, or it will present a case
which has often been said to involve a monstrous absurdity in a well- organized government, that
there should be no remedy, although a clear and undeniable right should be shown to exist.”74
A lack of proper enforcement can undermine the right to an effective remedy and must
be addressed if the electoral dispute resolution process – and the electoral process as a whole –
is to be respected by the electorate and if electoral and judicial institutions are to be seen as
legitimate. In Petkov v. Bulgaria the ECtHR stressed that the “rule of law — one of the
fundamental principles of a democratic society — entails a duty on the part of the State and
public authorities to comply with judicial orders or decisions against them.”75 In this case, three
applicants alleged that their rights to run for office in the 2001 parliamentary elections had been
unfairly abrogated.76 The applicants’ coalition withdrew their names from the candidates’ list due
to their links with the former State security agencies.77 The Supreme Administrative Court ruled
in the applicants’ coalition’s favor and declared the striking of the applicants off the lists of
70
71
Peter Erben, Beverly Hagerdon Thakur, Craig Jenness, & Ian Smith, CEPPS Philippines Election Observation Program
Strengthening the Electoral Process IFES Final Report, IFES (2004), http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pdacw958.pdf.
Id.
CRAIG C. DONSANTO & NANCY L. SIMMONS, FEDERAL PROSECUTION OF ELECTION OFFENSES, U.S. DEPT. OF JUST. (7th ed. 2007)
http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/criminal/legacy/2013/09/30/electbook-0507.pdf
73 GUIDELINES FOR UNDERSTANDING, supra note 7 at 64.
74 Kendall v. United States ex rel. Stokes, 37 U.S. 524, 624 (1838).
75 Petkov, supra note 34 at ¶ 62. (“The applicants complained of the electoral authorities’ refusal to comply with the
final judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court declaring their striking off the lists of candidates null and void, and
of their resulting inability to stand in the parliamentary elections on 17 June 2001.”).
76 Id. at ¶¶ 55-82.
77 Id. at ¶ 60.
72