Chapter 1: International Standards process is essential to building, restoring or maintaining a democracy.24 This trust, in turn, requires a transparent means by which to bring a claim and seek redress. A. Purpose The core function of an electoral complaints body is to maintain credibility and reliability through the availability of a clear legal right of action for individuals and relevant actors.25 This mechanism must encompass the fundamental right to judicial review with the prospect of an effective remedy — a baseline standard recognized by a plethora of international and domestic treaties and codes.26 The guarantee of a right to redress must be clearly established by the law and known to the general public; when dealing with election irregularities in a failed election, “the public must be able both to understand why the election failed and to accept how it will be fixed.”27 This is particularly important when an election’s true outcome is at stake. Specifically, civil society, political parties and individuals need to know: 1) which entity will be in charge of their claim; 2) the chronological process of bringing such a claim; and 3) which procedural and substantive rules will govern the complaint.28 B. Process A right to redress requires adequate processes to pursue the claim. This requirement necessarily calls upon states to provide clear guidelines on the processes available to bring a claim within the electoral complaint system, as a lack of such basic transparency can, and often does, lead to the dismissal of legitimate claims of irregularities. Providing this process can often be challenging in nascent democracies. Grant Kippen, Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, Elections in 2009 and 2010: Technical and Contextual Challenges to Building Democracy in Afghanistan 3, 19 (2008), available at http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docId/492c0e5b2.html. 25 Steven H. Huefner, Remedying Election Wrongs, 44 Harv. J. on Legis. 265, 291 (2007). 26 UDHR, supra note 10, art.8; ICCPR, supra note 11, art. 2, § 3(a),(c); African Charter, supra note 14, art. 7, § 1; European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, art. 13, Nov. 4, 1950, C.E.T.S. No. 5 (entered into force Sept. 3, 1953) [hereinafter European Convention], available at http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/ Html/005.htm. 27 Huefner, supra note 25, at 291-92. 28 Constitutional Court of the Republic of Indonesia, Handbook on Election Result Dispute Settlement 1, 9 (2004), available at http://aceproject.org/ero-en/topics/electoral-disputeresolution/Handbook_Election_Result_Dispute_Settlement.pdf/view; Law No. 24/2003, art. 74(1) (Indon.), Regulation No. 04/PMK/2004 (Indon.). 24 17