Electoral Dispute Management and Substantive Political Liberty: A Comparative Study of Albania and Kosovo

This study explores the relationship between electoral dispute management and substantive political liberty in Albania and Kosovo by developing and applying the Electoral Dispute Management Performance Index (EDMPI). While scholarship on electoral integrity often emphasizes administration and monitoring, it has paid limited attention to institutions that adjudicate electoral disputes and their impact on political freedoms. The EDMPI assesses key dimensions, independence, procedural fairness, accessibility, transparency, timeliness, and enforceability, to evaluate the capacity of dispute resolution bodies to protect citizens’ political rights. Using structured qualitative coding of legal frameworks, observation reports, and institutional decisions, the study finds that, although formal compliance with international standards is high, differences in institutional independence, transparency, and public trust shape the extent to which electoral processes safeguard substantive political liberty.