Upcoming presidential elections in Syria; expect a 99.9999% vote for Assad

Share:

assad syria killerCandidates for presidential elections in Syria this year will be able to submit their applications during the last 10 days of April, state media reported, quoting Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi.

“The overwhelming majority of Syrians are pressing and calling for President Bashar Assad to continue to lead the country as president of the republic,” he said.

“The door for candidacy will open in the last 10 days of this month,” state news agency SANA quoted Zohbi as saying in an interview with Hezbollah’s al-Manar late on Monday.

The minister also insisted that the elections would proceed on time, despite a raging civil war that has killed more than 150,000 people.

Zohbi insisted that the elections, due to be held before June, would proceed on schedule.

The elections “will be held on time… and we will not allow them to be delayed for any reason, whether security, military, political, internal or external,” he said.

Zohbi also denied there was any contradiction between staging the vote and efforts to hold peace talks, despite criticism by UN-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.

The mediator said last month that holding elections would likely endanger peacemaking efforts that have so far resulted in two rounds of talks in Switzerland but no concrete steps forward.

“The presidential election does not contradict the contents of the Geneva statement,” Zohbi said, referring to a document produced after a first round of talks in Geneva in 2012.

The document called for a political transition in Syria but made no mention of the role of Assad, who the opposition insists must step aside.

“Any talk of a conflict is political, resulting from a failure to read the document,” Zohbi added.

The constitution adopted in 2012 for the first time opens the door for candidates to challenge President Bashar Assad in the election.

But a law adopted by parliament this year requires candidates to have lived in Syria for the past 10 years, thereby excluding the exiled Western- and Arab-backed opposition.

And it remains unclear how an election can be held in the middle of a war that has also displaced an estimated 40 percent of Syrians from their homes.

The conflict in Syria began in March 2011, with protests against Assad’s regime.

After a government crackdown on the dissent, some of the opposition took up arms and the conflict spiralled into a bloody civil war.

Share:

Comments

5 responses to “Upcoming presidential elections in Syria; expect a 99.9999% vote for Assad”

  1. Amine123 Avatar
    Amine123

    what else is expected from the person who slaughtered his people and destroyed his country

    1. Zanjabeel Avatar
      Zanjabeel

      its not his ppl he killed and most places destroyed are sunnis cities/villages this man(assad ) is a very filthy person ,turned it into a sectarian war just to stay in power,won the propaganda game by coming up with his own alqaida(ISIS and others)brought in foreign intervention so as to regain battle advances(start winning),has good allies as appose to bad ones like the americans and EU,helping him with real weapons.why are’nt the russians afraid of their weapons getting in the hands of alqaida??!or “terrorist”,THE syrian ppl have been back stabbed and left for dead!the assad regeime is a criminal regime and are guilty of war crimes,the US and EU are in conspiracy with the russians and assad along with hizbuliran in murdering the syrian ppl!he does not represent 80% of the syrian ppl and thats why he does not care,but not to worry his time is soon done,Ensha’Alla

  2. bypest Avatar

    Expect an overwhelming vote for Assad? Well, of course. The stone age barbarians who make up the “opposition” are too busy being killed, their backs to their adversaries, to have a say in the nation’s future.

  3. The real lebanese Avatar
    The real lebanese

    Do the Syrians really care to vote. Its all a joke. When will the REAL elections be.?

  4. The real lebanese Avatar
    The real lebanese

    Do the Syrians really care to vote. Its all a joke. When will the REAL elections be.?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *