Principle 2: Thorough Investigation to corroborate information.123 A failure to do so can severely limit the effectiveness of the investigation. In El-Masri v. the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the European Court of Human Rights defines a thorough investigation as one that is based on substantiated evidence. Noting the necessity of a “prompt and thorough” investigation of rights violations, the Court explained that substantiated evidence “means that the authorities must always make a serious attempt to find out what happened and should not rely on hasty or ill-founded conclusions to close their investigation or to use as the basis of their decisions.” Rather, “they must take all reasonable steps available to them to secure the evidence concerning the incident.”124 According to the European Union Election Observation Mission to Kosovo in 2014, on many occasions investigators “adopted a formalistic approach and did not always proactively search for evidence,” during the legislative elections. Consequently, many complaints were rejected without the needed evidence.125 As a practical matter, the thorough investigation requirement means that an investigator should not rely on hearsay (information or statements from other people that cannot be otherwise substantiated or corroborated) and should make every effort to confirm evidence firsthand. For example, in its Complaints Regulations, the Liberia National Election Commission states that a “challenge or a complaint shall not be based on hearsay and must be made by an individual who has personal knowledge of or was a witness to the matters that are the basis of the challenge or complaint.“126 In Moldova, the EMB investigators are required to verify the form and content of a complaint and the law clearly states that the “evidences submitted must meet the requirements of admissibility and relevance.”127 The European Court reaffirmed the importance of substantiated evidence in several election-related cases. In Hajili v. Azerbaijan, the applicant—a candidate for the National Assembly—lodged a complaint with the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) of Azerbaijan alleging that voting records from several 123 Uniform Guidelines 2009, supra note 25, ¶ 33. 124 Id. 125 EUEOM, Final Report, Kosovo 21 (2014), http://eeas.europa.eu/archives/eueom/missions/2014/kosovo/pdf/eu-eomkosovo-2014-final-report_en.pdf. 126 Election Comm’n of Liberia, Complaints Regulations, ¶ 3.1 (2005). 127 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). 59