Assad defiant announces presidential election in Syria

Even as fighting continues in Syria’s protracted civil war and the country remains deeply fragmented, a defiant Syrian president, Bashar Assad, has announced that Syria will hold presidential elections next month.

This will be the country’s second presidential election held during the deadly civil war. The vote is scheduled for May 26. Parliament Speaker Hammouda Sabbagh said in a statement on Sunday that Syrians living abroad would “be able to vote at embassies” on May 20. Assad is not expected to face any serious challenges. Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the Arabian Gulf State Institute in Washington, told The Media Line that it is not uncommon for an Arab country with a republican form of government to be elected, but led by a defacto dictator. “This is typical of the behavior of authoritarian and dictatorial leaders of republics,” he said. A republic is supposed to be a democratic form of government, but in Syria it is only in name because there is no real democratic process. Elections will therefore be held, even if it is fraudulent.

Ibish said the election would be held despite international rejection and opposition objections. “Virtually all regimes need a story of legitimacy out of power,” he added, “but it is, of course, a sham. The idea is to give the government the representatives, supporters and foreign allies the ability to claim that the government has some legitimacy beyond brute force. And indeed, Assad has a very strong constituency in Syria, although it is almost certainly a minority. ‘Ibish says these elections will not be’ change anything in any way. “He says Assad has a tight grip on the country, with Syrians supporting him or opposing him, or being ambivalent. “He’s in charge, and it’s completely independent of any election. “These are not real elections, so the result is not and it will not add any internal legitimacy to his claims on the government,” Ibish said. Aron Lund, a researcher from Syria, at FOI – the Swedish Defense Research Agency, told The Media Line that “it is typical of authoritarian governments around the world to hold elections, and that it is not something unique to Syria.” Lund says the Syrian government wants to project the image of a stable and functional state that functions in a normal way, and to show that it is capable of holding elections. ‘The Syrian constitution gives regular elections, and the government is careful to maintain the appearance of constitutional. “Lund has always sought to hold elections on schedule, including for parliament, president and local assemblies,” Lund said. “The US and the EU won Syria’s election in 2014, which Assad won by almost 90% of the vote. described as undemocratic and illegal. The opposition calls it a fraud. “The point is not to please the opposition or the international community, it is to mark a box in the constitution and show that Assad’s government is still in control and can still impose its own policy on Syria, “according to Lund.Suhail al-Ghazi, a Syrian researcher and non-resident of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, based in Washington, DC, told The Media Line that holding elections is important for Damascus and its mainstay, Moscow, as it shows that the country is moving forward. “The election is a policy by the regime and Russia to show that Syria is progressing and becoming a normal country. It is a way of saying Syrians support Assad and Syria is still there,” Ghazi said. Russia wants to show that the state “does not care about political solution or transition.” He says holding national elections is for public use. “Internally, the regime is using this election to tell people that Syria is good and to push the propaganda among the people, especially the young generation,” he added. The country’s bloody civil war paralyzed the Syrian economy, exacerbated by a series of Western sanctions, meanwhile 6 million people have been displaced inland and 5 million have fled the country, and for many Syrians and experts the outcome is a forgotten conclusion – Assad is undoubtedly expected to remain in power and easy to win another seven-year term. “It’s not an election, it’s a sham. “This is an attempt by the Syrian government to legitimize itself, to re-establish itself,” Ahmad al-Zain told The Media Line by telephone from a refugee camp for internally displaced persons in northern Syria near Aleppo. 47), a father of five from the countryside of Damascus, asked him how elections can be held in Syria today. “The country is divided and not everyone gets a chance to vote or vote. I live in a tent with my family and will not get a chance to vote, “he said.” Where is democracy here? ” Lund added that the election “would not be free or fair”, but that ensuring a relatively large turnout for the Syrian government is a victory and allows it to assert that “Assad’s government has public support”. has.’ “No one thinks Syria is a democracy. If the government can ensure fairly broad participation – especially in areas outside government control and at embassies abroad – it will prove that Assad is capable of mobilizing and leading many Syrians,” he said. said. Despite the ongoing fighting and the lack of complete control by the government of the whole country, it is important that elections take place to convince Syrians and the world that life there is back to normal. “If army and police forces can prevent attacks or disruptions during the election process, the government will also have shown that its security controls remain effective,” Lund said. “No matter how Aramaeans really feel about Assad, many will go to the polls.” Many Syrians will turn up simply because they are expected to do so, no matter what they think of his [Assad’s] prevail. It is an authoritarian system and when the government asks for proof of support, most people will concede and then move on with their lives. This is how these things work. You are not asked for your opinion; you are told to be present, “Lund said. Assad becomes president after the death of his father, Hafez, more than 20 years ago. Like his father before him, Assad rules with an iron fist that has helped him take control of With the eruption of the so-called Arab Spring in 2011, a civil war broke out in Syria that threatened Assad’s rule, sending the country into chaos.Since 2015, with the support of Russian forces, the Syrian army has slowly but surely is certainly capable of regaining control of 70% of Syrian territory, Assad has not yet officially announced his intention to run for re-election Under Syria’s 2012 constitution, a president may serve only two seven-year terms – with the exception of the president who was elected in the poll in 2014. Candidates must live in Syria for at least ten consecutive years, which means that opposition figures living in exile are excluded from participating in next month’s election. have the support of at least 35 members of parliament, dominated by Assad’s Ba’ath party. The ten-year civil war in Syria has left some 400,000 people dead and half the population displaced.