complaints of misconduct during voter registration are often handled before the elections, and EDR bodies may process such cases in the same way as they process general election-related complaints. As discussed above, irregularities related to campaign finance are often dealt with as administrative infractions and sanctioned accordingly. Therefore, in order to better understand the dispute-resolutions systems related to campaign finance, one has to combine the data provided in Part 3 and Part 4 of the EJD. What penalties are envisaged for election-related criminal offences? Clearly prescribed penalties or sanctions in the laws against electionrelated crime help to decrease the incidence of such criminal behaviour. All types of penalties, be they fines, imprisonment or any other, should be proportionate to the degree of misconduct and therefore severe enough to fulfil their purpose of inhibiting prohibited actions during elections (Orozco-Henríquez et al. 2010: 112–24). The research reveals that in a majority of countries, legal documents prescribe penalties that are proportionate to the degree of misconduct. For instance, many countries apply different lengths of imprisonment based on the severity of the action, and the same is true of the amount of the fine imposed for criminal misconduct. For example, in Belgium, criminal offences related to electoral fraud can be penalized by imprisonment for periods of eight days to two years, or by a fine ranging from EUR 26 to EUR 1,000, depending on the nature of the fraud. Figure 6.3 shows that in the great majority of countries, election-related offences can be penalized by both fines and imprisonment. Details about the terms of imprisonment and the size of fines can be found in the online database. The option ‘Other’ includes various types of criminal penalties. For electoral fraud, for example, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Ukraine impose compulsory or correctional labour, Latvia and Lithuania impose community service and Iran imposes up to 50 lashes in addition to other penalties. Details about other types of penalties can be found in the online database. The research also reveals that in parallel with enforcing criminal penalties, the legislation of some countries imposes administrative sanctions for certain types of misconduct or irregularity. For obstructing electoral processes, for example, the sanction is disqualification from holding public office for a certain period of time in Andorra and Costa Rica, suspension of electoral rights in Dominica and Luxemburg, and suspension of the right to stand in elections in Bhutan, Malaysia and Singapore. Even though this part of the database is meant to cover criminal penalties, it was decided to provide data on administrative sanctions too. It was thought that this approach would help make the data more useful, and the findings suggest that some offences attract both criminal and administrative penalties at the same time. 50