Election Investigations Guidebook Effective Evidence Collection As the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights affirms, the “purpose of an investigation should be to secure independent evidence.”110 Collecting and corroborating substantiated evidence goes to the very heart of an election investigation. The Uniform Guidelines on Investigations plainly state that “[i]nvestigative findings shall be based on facts and related analysis.”111 Consequently, according to the United Nations General Assembly, investigators must “identify and obtain all relevant information and evidence to establish facts relevant to an allegation, resulting in the facts being confirmed or refuted.”112 Pre-Determined Types of Evidence The types of evidence that are admissible in proving the elements of a claim are often not mentioned in the law but may be described in regulations or procedures. In Moldova, the complaints regulations include a list of evidence that can be submitted113 and the 2018 Afghan Procedure on Adjudication of Complaints lists some examples of “evidentiary proofs.”114 More often, types of admissible evidence are presented in dispute resolution guidelines or manuals. For example, the 2015 Pakistan Election Tribunal Handbook and the 2015 Myanmar Election Dispute Resolution Manual explain the types of evidence that can be submitted when filing a complaint or presented during a hearing. There are some exceptions to these general rules, including the Ukrainian election law, which includes a relatively extensive section that 110 U.N. High Comm’r on Human Rights, Human Rights Standards and Practice for the Police: Expanded Pocket Book on Human Rights for the Police, at 12, U.N. Doc HR/P/PT/5/Add.3, U.N. Sales No. E.03.XIV.7 (2004), http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/ Publications/‌training5Add3en.pdf [hereinafter Human Rights Standards and Practice for the Police]. 111 Uniform Guidelines 2009, supra note 25, ¶ 8; cf. Seventh U.N. Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary ¶ 2 (Sept. 6, 1985), U.N. Doc. A/CONF.121/22/Rev.1, at 59 (1985), unanimously endorsed by G.A. Res. 40/32, U.N. Doc. A/RES/40/32 (Nov. 29, 1985), G.A. Res. 40/146, U.N. Doc. A/RES/40/146 (Dec. 13, 1985) [hereinafter Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary] (judicial decisions shall be made “on the basis of facts”). 112 Rep. of the Joint Inspection Unit, Investigations Function in the United Nations System, ¶ 59, U.N. Doc. A/67/140; GAOR, 67th Sess. (Jul. 13, 2012) (describing the duties of an investigator as opposed to an auditor). 113 Law No. 1381-XII of 1997 (Electoral Code of the Republic of Moldova), Monitorul Oficial al R.Moldova No. 81/667 of July 12, 1997, ch. 3, 9 (Moldova) (“As evidence to support the submitted complaint may be used audio / video recordings, photographs, documents, written statements of witnesses.”). 114 Law No. 112 of 2014 (Election Law), ‫ هیلدع ترازو‬No. 15/5/1392 of Aug. 6, 2014, art. 4.10 (Afg.) (“This includes written document, photo, voice, signs and marks which are provided by both parties of the case in relation to objection and complaint and/or defense for proving the occurrence and perpetration of the electoral violations and crimes and which are deemed admissible and useable by the Complaints Commission and if deemed necessary by the Commission, shall have been accepted by the experts. Confession by the confessor also falls under the category of the evidentiary proofs.”). 56