International Foundation for Electoral Systems
is updated regularly online and can be accessed by those who search for it. In addition to real-time case
information, the Tribunal maintains a publicly available statistics page,143 which aggregates and
publishes data on hundreds of thousands of cases. Descriptive information about cases is also available,
including information on how each judge voted, any dissenting opinions, and the decision itself
containing justification for rulings and a summary of arguments and facts. As the Tribunal in Mexico
works toward increasing open justice, one barrier that some judges at the Tribunal are working to
address is the use of complex legal language in decisions that limits the ability of stakeholders to
understand rulings. The effort to use simpler language is one that is, however, highly individualized.
Language can be a barrier in some cases involving indigenous peoples, as all internal resolutions are
issued in Spanish. Only the final resolution is required to be translated into the indigenous language of
the parties to the contest.
In Kosovo, a dedicated Case and Appeals Management System (CAMS) was developed in 2015 that
facilitates public access to reports. Interlocutors have suggested that awareness around the election
dispute resolution process is increasing among external stakeholders, such as political entities,
candidates, observers, NGOs and voters. The rules and procedure governing the ECAP are publicly
available, and training manuals for political entities on electoral dispute resolution have been translated
into English, Albanian and Serbian, and published on the website. A case summary is provided in simple
language. However, stakeholders have called for improved analysis of case information.144 In
Macedonia, the SEC’s website publishes the complaint, ordinal number of complaint, complainant, suit,
location of the violation, meeting minutes of discussions on complaints, and the Administrative Court
decision.145 The information is published in Macedonian, in the format of a table. However, the OSCE
noted that, during the 2016 early parliamentary elections, the SEC did not publish all decisions and
minutes of the sessions on its website. This is contrary to the legal provisions of the Electoral Code and
resulted in diminished transparency.146
As touched on earlier, complex or decentralized rules can hinder the fairness of the EDR process
(particularly if they are inconsistently applied), but they also present a challenge in terms of
transparency. Complex rules can be difficult for non-lawyers to understand and can then result in
accessibility issues. It is a fundamental tenet of open justice that information is not just available, but it
is accessible and understandable for a broad range of stakeholders, not just legal professionals. In the
Philippines, the broad array of bodies and departments responsible for the adjudication of disputes is
underpinned by a similarly broad array of rules of procedure specific to each body administering and
deciding the dispute. As a result of repeated amendment, rules of procedure can be fragmented and
difficult to understand for those outside of COMELEC, though complete and established rules specific to
each body do exist. In Tunisia, interlocutors have acknowledged that the change of processes and
procedures between the Courts of first instance and the Administrative Tribunal could result in an
143
http://www.trife.gob.mx/turnos-sentencias/estadisticas <Accessed Sept 1 2017>
IFES, Training Needs Assessment for Election Complaints and Appeal Panel, June 2016, at 8.
145
Rulebook on the Manner and Procedure for Deciding upon Complaints art. 18 (Maced.).
146
OSCE/ODIHR, Election Observation Mission Final Report, at 7, Feb. 28, 2017.
144
38