Guidelines for Understanding, Adjudicating, and Resolving Disputes in Elections Technical Assistance to the Electoral Commission of the Philippines (COMELEC) (August 2009) Ahead of the May 2010 elections in the Philippines, the TEPJF and the Electoral Commission of the Philippines (COMELEC) agreed to join efforts to further sharpen their electoral skills. Two senior COMELEC officials traveled to Mexico in August 2009 to exchange information and ideas with 24 Mexican electoral authorities and international experts. IFES also took part in this initiative and acted as a bridge to bring electoral commissions from all over the world to exchange experiences and receive training with Mexican electoral authorities. These exchanges provide foreign electoral commissions the opportunity to learn from Mexico’s electoral system, one of the most sophisticated in the world. In turn, the foreign commissions provide IFE the opportunity to continue building on its electoral expertise by becoming familiar with the different systems employed throughout the world. The TEPJF held a workshop that addressed several subjects such as electoral funding, voter registration lists, electoral justice in Mexico, electoral technology and electronic voting, and programs of civil education and electoral training. Philippine and Mexican delegates realized that they shared similar challenges that emerged from their similar geographical and socio-political backgrounds and the issues presented by the management of modern elections. The Mexican presenters explained to COMELEC delegates the failures of the past, what they did to address them, and in many cases, what they are still doing to correct persistent flaws in the system. adjudication process, the TEPJF’s mandate and powers, and the criteria used to investigate and adjudicate complaints. Although the agenda of the training is based on the specific request from the election body, the TEPJF uses the opportunity presented by these meetings to advocate for the establishment of an administrative institution that organizes and conducts elections, with a separate judicial organ empowered to adjudicate electoral complaints. Trainers are often international experts or high ranking IFE or TEPJF officers (e.g., trainers from the Training Center). Trainers produce their own materials for the participants, which are then translated in most cases to the appropriate language. The specific partner for a project will vary, though OAS, IFE and UNDP generally partner with the Court for EMB trainings. 168