Preface Elections are at the core of the democratic process. The competitive and politically divisive nature of elections and their technical complexity make them vulnerable to abuse, fraud or perceptions thereof. At the same time, elections are able to achieve their key purpose of providing legitimacy to the government only if they are fully trusted and perceived to be impartial and fair. Hence the need for an effective mechanism to prevent, mitigate or resolve disputes that are likely to arise in every electoral process, and to preserve and when necessary restore the real and perceived equality of citizens and their representatives. An efficient and effective electoral justice system is fundamental to securing these objectives. Without a system to mitigate and manage inequality or perceptions of inequality, even the best management of an electoral process may lead to mistrust in the legitimacy of a democracy. International IDEA has developed this first global Handbook on electoral justice in order to increase understanding of the importance of robust, contextually sensitive and nationally embraced systems and to examine how a variety of electoral justice mechanisms and bodies are used to defend electoral rights. While ongoing initiatives within International IDEA seek to address the causes of violence or conflict related to electoral processes, this Handbook explores the necessary technical and legal considerations and architecture needed in order to prevent such disputes and potential conflicts from arising. The Handbook explores a variety of the electoral dispute resolution (EDR) mechanisms currently employed around the world; how such EDR systems are classified and the elements, principles and guarantees that should govern them; and considers alternative dispute resolution mechanisms that are currently being used within the confines of an electoral justice system. Examples of electoral justice systems have been incorporated throughout the Handbook, to explore the potential uses and benefits of a variety of methods in order to assist practitioners in developing a system that is suitable for their own context and reality. The comparative knowledge gathered in the Handbook is further expanded in International IDEA’s online Unified Database (http://www.idea.int/uid), where users can continually update information using a wiki-style editing approach that will help to sustain the accuracy of the information provided. V