Guidelines for Understanding, Adjudicating, and Resolving Disputes in Elections that result from varying implementation standards must also analyze a number of election processes and country practices. While there are practical limitations to this effort, such as the failure of countries to publish or translate domestic decisions for wider consumption,23 this guide attempts to canvass all available resources to best present support for the implementing principles enumerated below. There is much agreement on the fundamental rights of participation in governance, which include the right to vote and stand in elections. There is also a body of standards that deals with individual rights within the judicial process, as well as with individuals’ and entities’ rights under the election complaint process, and with bodies that adjudicate such disputes. In the following sections we will describe the intersection of these standards and how they apply to election complaint adjudication, and what guidelines they present for the design and administration of complaint adjudication systems. The seven international standards, to which this book will refer frequently, are: 1. A right of redress for election complaints and disputes 2. A clearly defined regimen of election standards and procedures 3. An impartial and informed arbiter 4. A system that judicially expedites decisions 5. Established burdens of proof and standards of evidence 6. Availability of meaningful and effective remedies 7. Effective education of stakeholders 1. Right of Redress for Election Complaints and Disputes The public provision of a clear means to remedy election irregularities is crucial to maintaining an election complaint adjudication system that adequately supports public participation in government. Because public confidence will give the victor the necessary legitimacy to govern, trust in the Specifically, “case outcomes are usually not published or available on the internet, and rarely translated from the original language.” Robert A. Dahl, Legal Policy Advisor, IFES, Address Before the 2008 General Assembly of the Association of Asian Election Authorities: Electoral Complaint Adjudication and Dispute Resolution (July 22, 2008), available at http://210.69.23.129/d_6.html (follow link for full text of keynote speech). 23 16