that legislation does not require the payment of any fee or deposit in 46 per cent of countries (Figure 4.7). Only 13 per cent of countries have fee or deposit requirements prescribed by law. Legislation in 41 per cent of countries does not contain any clear provisions in this regard. Among those countries that have requirements for a fee or deposit, 11 require a deposit, 7 require a fee and 2 require both a fee and a deposit. Figure 4.7. Is there a requirement to pay a fee or deposit to the first-instance electoral dispute-resolution body? Not specified 41% Deposit (11 countries) Yes 13% Filing fee (7 countries) Both deposit and filing fee (2 countries) No 46% Notes: Data for 156 countries. Graph represents the data in the EJD as of August 2015. Ability to appeal the decision of the first-instance electoral dispute-resolution body Figure 4.2 provides a general overview of the ‘flow’ of the appeals processes from the first-instance to the last-instance EDR bodies. In addition to the judicial EDR processes, it can be seen that when lower level EMBs deal with electoral challenges in the first instance, their decisions can be appealed either to higher-level EMBs (in 12 countries) or to judicial bodies. The findings presented in Figure 4.8 indicate that the legislation of 46 per cent of the countries does not allow appeals against the decisions of the first-instance body. Closer analysis of those countries reveals that appeals are usually not allowed when the first-instance bodies are constitutional courts or councils, supreme or high courts or election tribunals or courts. Since these bodies are considered to be the highest-level judicial bodies in the hierarchy of EDR systems, it is understandable that their decisions are not subject to appeal. 37

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