ALL FOR THE RESPECT OF THE BALLOT VERDICT AGAINST BULLETS DICTATURE IN COTE D’IVOIRE The recent Presidential elections in Côte d’Ivoire strongly surprised the world with record participation rates of 84% in the first round and 81% in the second one. This exceptional mobilization of the Ivorians revealed the undeniable manifestation of the hope this people had in a poll due to definitely put an end to a decade of political and military crisis. At the issue of the elections second round on November 28th 2010, the Independent Electoral Commission declared the challenger and former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara winner with 2,483,164 votes or 54.1% of the electorate against 2,107,055 votes or 45.9% for the outsider Laurent Gbagbo in power since October 2000. It is important to precise that his constitutional mandate expired in 2005 and he ruled Côte d’Ivoire from 2005 to 2010 without being elected. Odd enough and against all expectations, the Constitutional Council inverted the results that stem from the ballot boxes proclaiming thus Laurent Gbagbo winner with 51.45% of the suffrage against 48.55% for Alassane Ouattara. The Constitutional Council under the control of the outsider cancelled more than 597, 010 electors votes in seven departments of Côte d’Ivoire that massively voted Alassane Ouattara. The United Nations Special Representative in Côte d’Ivoire, in charge of certifying the issue of the elections prior to the mandate entrusted to the United Nations Organization in 2005 by the signatories of the different Côte d’Ivoire peace talks, declared on December 8th, 2010 in Abidjan: ‘’ The Ivorian people chose the candidate Alassane Ouattara as the winner of the presidential election with an incontestable distance over Laurent Gbagbo’’. Next to the local actors, the World Community namely, the ECOWAS (Economical Community of West African States) and the African Union that watched the scrutiny and appreciated the sincerity and democratic character of the votes, the world community recognized Alassane Ouattara as the sole President of Côte d’Ivoire. At the opposite of the democracies in the world that cheerfully celebrate their newly elected Head of State, Côte d’Ivoire lives in horror. Demonstrations are banned and repressed in blood; Medias are forbidden to broadcast, arbitrary arrests, abductions, rape and summary executions, appeal to hatred via the manipulating state television, harassment of the opponents, of the foreigners, of the UN troops accused without reason to contribute to ‘’ an international plot against Côte d’Ivoire’’ to impose on the Ivoirians a President who is not Laurent Gbagbo ‘’the President’’ elected by the Constitutional Council. This wild repression caused more than 250 casualties. It is imperative that democracy in Côte d’Ivoire survives to that situation for many reasons. Before voting for a candidate, the Ivorian people voted for democracy first. The cancelled voices by the Constitutional Council are not only the votes of Alassane Ouattara (544 492); they are also the votes of Laurent Gbagbo (52 518). By depriving them of the possibility of an alternation, the Constitutional Council doesn’t only rob five years of the mandate of a new chosen government to the Ivorians. It also robs the Ivorians for an undetermined period, their future in a democratic and peaceful environment. Another reason is that we can’t betray the principle of supreme will of the people without driving to peril all the other principles. Shall we tell the other African nations that are embracing elections in the coming days that the vote of the Constitutional Council is enough to overthrow the choice of millions of electors? The situation Côte d’Ivoire is undergoing will be a test for the rest of the black continent. Either Africa will resolutely trudge towards democracy, or it will return to endless presidencies with Constitutional Council under order. Leave Côte d’Ivoire in the hands of a despot will expose Africa to tyranny. Leave the power in the hands of the weapons in Côte d’Ivoire will drive us to conquer power with weapons in the rest of the continent. That’s why we call on all the citizens of the world, women and men to openly sustain the urgent restore of democracy in Côte d’Ivoire by signing this petition and by creating an unbreakable chain of relay to make the will of the sovereign people be respected.