Elections on Trial: The Effective Management of Election Disputes and Violations Table 1: Comparative EDR Systems and Procedures Country and EDR Model Mexico Permanent electoral tribunal Tunisia Regular courts Jurisdiction The highest authority on electoral matters is the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judicial Branch (Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación, TEPJF) with a Superior Court in Mexico City and six permanent regional or specialized courts. The TEPJF ensures that all electoral acts and rulings comply with the Constitution and laws, and rules on challenges made to actions or regulations of the Mexican EMB.31 Election crimes fall under the jurisdiction of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for Electoral Crimes (La Fiscalía Especializada para la Atención de Delitos Electorales, FEPADE), an institution under the auspices of the attorney general’s office.32 The “Courts of First Instance” have original jurisdiction over electoral disputes,33 and the Administrative Tribunal acts as an appeals court Procedures Case Management System There are extensive The screening, sorting, provisions governing rules of tracking and archiving of procedure for electoral cases as well as the cases laid out in Mexican gathering and publication law. These include the of statistics on the work Electoral Recourses Law of and rulings of the 1996 (Ley General Del Tribunal falls to the Sistema de Medios de General Secretariat of Impugnación en Materia Agreements (SGA). The Electoral) and an extensive adjudication process at body of jurisprudence, all the federal, regional and deriving their guiding state level relies on principles from the Mexican comprehensive open Constitution. source case management software developed by the Tribunal, called SISGA (Sistema de informacion de la secretaria general de acuerdos). Strength Weakness The continued refinement of due process happens through jurisprudence rather than being published in the law or rules. Tracking this evolving jurisprudence necessitates a detailed following of the rulings of the court, which can lead to a lack of understanding of current procedure. Procedures relevant to case management are found in the texts of the Administrative Tribunal, the Codes of Civil and Commercial Procedure and Decisions issued by the Tribunal must include a synthesis of the challenge and facts of the case, an expression of the legal grievance, an assessment of the evidence, reference to the applicable law that sustains the decision, justification for the application of that law to the decision as well as the ruling itself. The ruling must include a time period during which the ruling and any concurrent sanction or remedy must be complied with, in keeping with the principles of access to justice. The judgment must indicate parties’ names and personal details, the purpose of the complaint, a summary of the facts, a summary of the evidence The Administrative Tribunal has a case management database that is managed by the Tribunal’s registry (greffe). The registry The decisions of the Administrative Tribunal are published in the Journal of Electoral Dispute Decisions, but these cases are 31 Constitutional Policy of the United States of Mexico [CPEUM], art. 41 § V, Diario Oficial de la Federacion [DOF][Official Journal of the Federation] Feb. 05, 1917, final reform DOF Mar. 20, 2014 (Mex.); See also Electorla Tribunal of the Federal Judicial Branch, About Us, http://www.trife.gob.mx/en/contenido/about-us (last visited Jul. 12, 2017). 32 Constitutional Policy of the United States of Mexico [CPEUM], art. 102 § VI, 33 Décret-loi n° 2011-27 du 18 avril 2011, portant création d’une instance supérieure indépendante pour les élections [Law-decree 2011-27 of April 18, 2011 on the Creation of the Independent High Authority for Elections] Journal officiel de la République Tunisienne [J.O.] [Official Gazette of Tunisia], 484 (2011). 17