disputes. Complaints brought to the attention of an election observation mission are categorized and processed through a database. The purpose of this database is to gather information on both the quantity of election-related disputes in a given country and the dispute resolution process of a given legal and electoral system. The data processed will then facilitate the analysis of legal, topical, geographical and other patterns. The methodology also includes qualitative tools, such as the election dispute analysis matrix, which is essentially a list of specific questions. The answers to some of these questions serve to indicate where further analysis would best reveal the strengths and weaknesses of the legal system in election dispute resolution. Other questions go beyond the kind of information available from the database; they require further analysis so as to reveal the efficiency and functioning of dispute resolution mechanisms within the overall legal framework of a given country. This methodology has already been used by the OSCE/ODIHR on its election observation missions to Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. Although election disputes has always been an area covered by election observation, the system described below goes further by providing tools for collecting and processing data, categorizing complaints, tracing them through to a resolution and exposing trends and patterns with statistical accuracy. 4