Guidelines for Understanding, Adjudicating, and Resolving Disputes in Elections been encouraged to adopt election complaint bodies, such as Kosovo’s Elections Complaints and Appeals Commission (ECAC). As the experience of Kosovo shows, however, these institutions often become embroiled in “turf” battles with both EMBs and courts, as their jurisdiction can be murky and their quasi-judicial authority questioned. In Indonesia, the institution of Bawaslu (formerly Panwaslu, which predates reformasi following the collapse of the Suharto regime in 1998) relies as much upon moral authority as any real adjudicative power. In both countries, the special complaints bodies are grossly under-financed by their governments, and are placed in competition with their EMBs for obtaining sufficient resources. Successful models for creating a separate complaints adjudication tribunal in nonconflict countries are discussed later in this chapter, as well as in Chapter 4: Case Studies Related to Training of Arbiters in Election Complaints, and include Mexico’s establishment of the Federal Electoral Tribunal (TEPJF). A. Country Example: Pakistan 8 Under Pakistan’s legal structure, a temporary Election Tribunal is established for challenges to vote outcomes after election results are announced. At the beginning of the election process, appeals of determinations by Returning Officers in accepting or rejecting candidate nomination papers are handled through Appellate Tribunals. Thus, mechanisms are already established for disputes arising during those two phases at the two ends of the election process. However, under the Pakistani system, there is a lack of clear procedures for resolution of election complaints filed during the pre-election campaign period and on polling day, particularly for allegations that do not constitute serious criminal violations. The system offers alternative procedures and multiple entry points for filing complaints during those stages. Responsibility for receiving, investigating and resolving pre-election complaints seems unclear and widely dispersed. Few complaints are resolved, including those related to criminal behavior. Many election-related complaints and challenges get lost in the bureaucracy or are decided long after the elections are over. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and other officials are often unfairly blamed for the outcomes under an inherently IFES, Pakistan ECA Conference Report (November 2009) (draft document). 8 118