APDH v Côte d’Ivoire (2016) 1 AfCLR 668 685 under Article 17 of the African Charter on Democracy and Article 3 of the ECOWAS Democracy Protocol. 136. Consequently, the Court further holds that the violation of Article 17 of the African Charter on Democracy affects the right of every Ivorian citizen to participate freely in the conduct of the public affairs of his country as guaranteed by Article 13 of the Charter on Human Rights. B. The allegation according to which the Respondent State has violated its obligation to protect the right to equality before the law and equal protection by the law 137. The Applicant maintains that the impugned law accords advantages to certain candidates at the expense of others; that the President of the Republic, for instance, is over-represented within the IEC whereas independent candidates and those of the Opposition are not represented therein; that proof thereof is that out of the 17 members comprising the Central Commission of the Ivorian electoral body, 13 through various entities, represent the President of the Republic, either as representatives of political parties, or representatives of political personalities (President of the Republic, President of the National Assembly, various Ministers) or as representatives of the institutions under his control (High Judicial Council). 138. The Applicant further submits that the said members can, during elections, tilt the balance in favour of the President of the Republic who is a candidate for his own succession, or in favour of partisan candidates at the expense of independent candidates and candidates of the Opposition. 139. The Applicant in conclusion maintained that by adopting the impugned law, the Respondent State violated its commitment to protect the rights to equality before the law and the right to equal protection by the law as enshrined in several international human rights instruments to which the State is a Party, especially the Charter on Human Rights (Article 3), the African Charter on Democracy (Article 10(3), the ECOWAS Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance (Article 3), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 1), and the Covenant (Article 26). 140. The Respondent State refutes this allegation, arguing that it is difficult to understand the Applicant’s complaint over the representation of the so-called independent candidates because according to the Respondent State such a claim challenges the strong presence of members appointed by the political parties or the political authorities. 141. It further contends that no provision of the impugned law deprives Ivorian citizens that have fulfilled the requisite conditions of the right to participate in the public affairs of their country. 142. The Court notes that equality and non-discrimination are fundamental principles of international human rights law and that everyone, without distinction, should enjoy all the rights. 143. Article 10(3) of the African Charter on Democracy on which the Applicant particularly relies, provides as follows: “State Parties shall