How Institutions Mediate Election Disputes: Comparative Electoral Justice

• In Event: Electoral Accountability, Integrity, & Security

Abstract

As the number of countries holding elections has increased, issues of electoral integrity and electoral disputes have
become increasingly pressing. Elections are lengthy, contentious affairs that are frequently plagued by
controversy and conflict, if not outright violence. Therefore it is unsurprising that disputes related to the electoral process and the related outcomes occur frequently in developing and developed democracies alike. The peaceful and productive resolution of electoral disputes is an integral part of protecting the legitimacy of the democratic process and the vast majority of countries that hold elections have explicit institutions designed to handle these disputes when they arise. The procedures and institutions that are used to resolve these issues vary considerably throughout the world. They vary both in their broad institutional form (i.e. is the dispute heard by a court? In the legislature? By the bureaucracy that managed the rest of the election? Some other institution?) as well as in their accessibility to the voting public. Ideally, these institutions would ensure that the entire electoral process is free and fair, while serving as a clearinghouse for administrative issues facing voters, allowing voters to serve in essence as citizen election observers. This process could also allow for the bureaucracies responsible for election administration to improve their procedures once it becomes clear where there are problems. These institutions could finally serve as an outlet for popular discontent, allowing disaffected citizens a means for registering their frustrations with the prevailing political system in a country. In practice, however, electoral justice is often inaccessible to voters for a variety of reasons and electoral disputes go unaddressed. How does the cross-national variation in electoral justice institutions influence the electoral process as well as perceptions of the electoral integrity of these countries? This paper uses data on the institutions governing electoral disputes compiled by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance and electoral integrity data from the most recent Perceptions of Electoral Integrity survey to probe the relationship between dispute institutions, their accessibility, and the integrity of elections throughout the world.

Author

• Joe Klaver, University of Michigan