(cont.) Type of EDRS Advantages Disadvantages (c) Administrative court • Reflects the judicial and administrative law nature of electoral disputes and entrusts their resolution to the most experienced administrative court • Does not generate related costs since no new institution is created • Can undermine the administrative court involved when the losing political forces question its decisions • Does not always provide timely electoral decisions given the common enormous caseload • If the legislature does not participate in the selection of the members of the administrative court it could lack political consensus (d) Specialized electoral court • Contributes to the quality and appropriate timing of decisions • Centres the attention of the political forces in the selection of its members, helping to give them adequate guarantees for their independence and impartiality • Can encourage conflicts between the EMB and the electoral court • Entails greater costs since it involves the creation of a new electoral court • Risk of selection of the electoral court members being based on their partisan convictions Electoral management body with judicial powers • Avoids possible discrepancies between the EMB and the body responsible for EDR • Contributes to identifying the body responsible for all of the electoral process, drawing attention to the selection of its members, their credentials and the esteem they are due • Reduces the usually high cost of elections • Concentrates electoral power in one single body, creating the risk of eventual abuses without checks by a different body • Disregards the international human right to an effective remedy before an independent and impartial court Ad hoc body, whether national or international • Helps to establish institutional mechanisms for a return to democracy after serious political conflict or crisis • Guarantees, through international community involvement, that no group or sector will be excluded from the electoral process • Risk of perpetuating the transitional regime • Risk of the defeated political forces disregarding electoral results • Can encourage the defeated political forces to question the participation of the international community * When analysing the advantages and disadvantages of the different types of electoral justice systems, it should be noted that it is only possible to identify certain trends. The functioning of each country’s EDRS is the result of a multiplicity of factors and, very commonly, the same type of system works differently from one country to another, since the historical, cultural and socio-political context makes a difference. Thus, there is no single institutional design of an EDRS that implies correctness or success. There is no single ‘best system’. 134