Summary
Remedy procedures should be clearly stated in law and pursuit of these procedures should be allowed within a reasonable limit of time.
Obligations
Election Parts
Criteria
Quotes
- The electoral law should set out an exclusive venue for filing complaints and appeals regarding the accuracy of the voter register or, where applicable, the electoral cards. The complaints procedure should be designed so that courts are not unnecessarily burdened with minor disputes.
- The law should not permit the accuracy of the voter register to be challenged right up to the eve of an election. This would ensure that electoral bodies and the judiciary are not diverted from urgent complaints and appeals related to voting and counting process and drawn into resolving disputes that could have been addressed earlier.
- Requests for changes, entries, and deletions in the voter registers should not be limited to a time period just before a given election, except where necessary to finalize registers prior to an election.
- The legal framework should clearly specify the method of establishing voter eligibility, including what documentation is required, so that the process is fully transparent, not subject to arbitrary decision, and can be publicly monitored in an objective manner.
- In order for the remedy of a violation to be effective, it must be provided in a timely and appropriate manner. This is particularly important in the electoral context due to the time-sensitive nature of the fast-paced process.
- Electoral disputes should be subject to prompt review. While there is no set standard for time limits, good electoral practice recommends three to five days, although longer deadlines may be allowed for the highest courts. Likewise, in challenges against election results, it is advisable that the final resolution of all complaints and appeals take place within two months, maximum.
- Standard complaint forms, either physical or online, also offer complainants the guidance on the elements required for filing. Developing filing standards that are clear and accessible to all election stakeholders gative bodies in processing complaints impartially and effectively.
- Due to the unique nature of election complaints, investigators must make their decisions in a timely fashion and in accordance with the rules, policies, and procedures that govern the electoral process.
- The principle of prompt investigation is important because election processes and results are time-bound, evidence may be time-sensitive or subject to destruction following an election, and impunity for electoral offenses may linger from one electoral cycle to the next if not dealt with in a timely manner.
- Given that there are legally specified periods for each electoral phase, decisions must be both timely and definitive. This implies that conflicts must be resolved before the conclusion of each respective phase of the electoral contest (e.g., any questions arising around the validity of an electoral candidate must be resolved conclusively before the electoral registration period has been completed).
- Electoral judicial proceedings should be timely, that is, a decision should be reached promptly and expeditiously within the legally established periods or stages of the electoral process. A decision taken outside this time frame may be unfair, and would make it impossible to correct the damage done to some electoral rights.
- Reasonable deadlines should be provided for bringing challenges (generally shorter than those for civil litigation and other branches of administrative law). These need to balance the time required by the person alleging harm by a particular electoral act or decision to take stock of its content and scope and to gather the evidence, on the one hand, against the need to obtain a timely resolution, given that electoral processes proceed in stages that cannot be changed or interrupted.