• Regular court belonging to the judicial branch • Constitutional court or council • Administrative court • Specialized electoral court 399. The various judicial electoral challenges can be classified, generally speaking, into trials and appeals. The latter, in turn, can be subdivided into regular remedies or appeals and special or exceptional remedies (see box 7.2). Box 7.2. Classification of judicial electoral challenges • Trials • Appeals – Ordinary appeals – Extraordinary or exceptional appeals (e.g. writ of certiorari – see the Glossary) (i) Trials 400. A trial is a formal judicial examination of evidence and a determination of legal claims. Electoral-administrative actions or decisions by an EMB or a political party can be challenged in such a trial. Judgement is entrusted to an impartial judicial body or court, which decides the dispute from a position of distance from the parties. The procedure is often adversarial, especially in countries with Anglo-American or Spanish traditions of jurisprudence. In common with French jurisprudence generally, a trial in a system with traditions of French jurisprudence may also include investigative elements of procedure. (ii) Appeals 401. An appeal is a proceeding undertaken to have a decision reconsidered by a higher court for review and possible reversal. Appeals are hearings that can be invoked before a higher court on the merits of the judicial decision issued by the lower court, or against violations committed in the proceedings of the lower court. Appeals usually account for the largest share of judicial electoral dispute resolution mechanisms (EDRMs). They can be invoked either within or as a continuation of a judicial proceeding. 402. Ordinary appeals are regular proceedings by a higher court to review a judicial decision. After the appeal is submitted by the unsuccessful litigant, the appellate court, which generally has more than one member, examines 139 7. Basic elements of EDR systems Box 7.1. Types of court in charge of resolving judicial electoral challenges