Guidelines for Understanding, Adjudicating,
and Resolving Disputes in Elections
a senior government position or a military or security office. In
order to determine challenges, the electoral complaints body
must have a viable, well-planned and independent structure, as
it will be required to make difficult and controversial decisions.
The challenge process must also be timely, in order to avoid an
unduly long pre-election period.
• Appointment of temporary EMBs and Polling Station Committees. EMBs at the lower levels are sometimes appointed
for multi-year terms, although in many contexts they are appointed to serve for a specific election in much the same manner as polling station committees. The appointment process
can be subject to challenges and complaints especially in those
contexts where laws require that membership on such commissions be based on balanced party representation. Where
parties are allowed to submit nominees, smaller parties are
frequently unable to supply a sufficient number of names and
larger parties are often seen to dominate membership. Complaints and challenges about potential bias and unfairness,
usually trafficked through upper EMB channels, can become a
quagmire that delays completion of the appointment process
and seriously interrupts orderly preparations for the election.
In many cases such delays result in last-minute appointments
of officials who have not been trained.
• Intimidation. Campaign intimidation may be passive, personal
or violent. Strongly worded letters to voters are best addressed
through complaints. Intimidation at rallies is best dealt with by
prevention, through careful rally planning, a permit system to
prevent clashes, and innocuous police presence. Intimidation
by home visits is significantly more difficult to control.
• Campaign violations.
In the pre-election period, it is not
uncommon for complaints to be filed by aggrieved parties and
candidates who believe they have been disadvantaged by actions taken by authorities or the media, or by unfair or unethical campaign tactics waged by opponents. Such complaints
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