Type of EDRS Advantages Disadvantages Legislative body • Facilitates political solutions to deadlocks or serious conflicts • Promotes democratic governance through the support of the legislature to political representation • Safeguards independence among the three branches of government when it avoids the judiciary’s involvement in partisan struggles • Can encourage abuse by majorities in the legislature who tend to favour their own political interests • Affects legitimacy when decisions are not taken according to the rule of law but on the basis of political considerations • Encourages the resolution of electoral conflicts through negotiation or mobilization rather than through institutional channels and the law Judicial body • Contributes to legitimacy since it guarantees that electoral decisions are taken according to the rule of law, to the benefit of justice, legal certainty and political stability • Avoids abuse by legislative majorities, thus reinforcing minority rights • Acknowledges that electoral disputes, even if they have political content, are judicial in nature, and should be solved according to the constitution and the law • Can encourage political forces who do not agree with its decisions to question the capacity or impartiality of the judicial body • Can encourage a dangerous involvement of judges in partisan political disputes • Risk of political forces controlling judicial appointments according to political criteria, instead of focusing on their professional capacity, independence and impartiality • Can undermine the high-ranked court involved when the losing political forces question its decisions (a) Regular court of the judicial branch • Reflects the judicial nature of electoral disputes and entrusts their resolution to a more experienced judicial body • Does not generate significant costs since no new institution is created • Does not always provide the best and timely decision given the body’s lack of specialization and/or enormous caseload • Can affect the image of the EJS in some emerging democracies whose judicial branch lacks prestige or independence • If the legislature does not participate in the selection of the members of the judicial body it could lack political consensus (b) Constitutional court or council • Contributes to the legitimacy and respectability of the EJS given the high rank, usual prestige and professional capacity of its members • Guarantees that electoral disputes are solved not just according to the law but according to the constitution as well • If there is a prior decision from a different judicial body, there may be time constraints which could affect the quality of the new decision or render it inopportune • Affects the image of the EJS in some emerging democracies where the constitutional council plays a political role more than a judicial one 133 6. Principles and guarantees of EDR systems Table 6.1. Advantages and disadvantages of the different types of electoral dispute resolution systems*