participating in the conduct of public affairs, including legislative, municipal, village and city neighbourhood elections. 138. He further argues that this provision violates the right to freedom of association, the rights to equality and non-discrimination, and the right to freedom to participate in the public affairs of his country. 139. He submits that by compelling Beninese citizens to vote only for candidates chosen and nominated by political parties, Article 153-1, violates the right to freedom of expression enshrined in Article 19 (2) of the ICCPR. 140. The Applicant further submits that Article 44 of the said amended Constitution requires aspiring candidates to obtain sponsorship in order to run in presidential elections. Under Article 138 of the Electoral Code, only deputies and mayors are empowered to sponsor candidates, whereas all the deputies as well as nearly all mayors are members of the ruling government. 141. To this effect, he submits that the mayors are illegitimate insofar as they were elected in the communal and municipal elections of 2020 which were held in violation of the decisions of this Court rendered on 17 April 2020 in Application No. 062/2019 and 5 May 2020 in Application No. 003/2020. 142. He further contends that as elections go, the mayor does not represent the entire population of the commune that elected him, since he is the political representative of a single political party. Therefore, according to him, the power to sponsor candidates can therefore not be vested in mayors in place of the population of the commune or of all local elected officials who represent the entire population. 38