Bashar Al-Assad orchestrates a mock presidential election in Syria

There is no doubt about his re-election and Bashar Al-Assad is heading without surprise to a fourth consecutive term at the head of Syria. The process was formalized by the High Constitutional Court, which validated his candidacy, Monday, May 3, for an election scheduled for May 26. A presidential election that will see him win against two competitors, a former minister and a member of the opposition tolerated by the government.

The poll will be the second to be held since the start, in 2011, of a devastating war triggered by the repression of demonstrations calling for democratic reforms. Militarily aided by its Iranian and Russian allies, the Syrian leader’s regime has succeeded in taking back from the rebels and jihadists nearly two-thirds of the territory at the cost of fighting which has left nearly 400,000 dead.

Elected by referendum in 2000

Aged 55, Bashar Al-Assad came to power in 2000 after the death of his father Hafez Al-Assad, himself at the head of Syria for three decades. He was elected by referendum in 2000 and 2007. In 2014, two candidates were authorized to compete against him to project, already, the image of a situation in the process of normalization. The autocrat was re-elected with more than 88% of the vote in what was called by his opponents as ” prank call “ and staging organized for Western media.

Read the archive: Syria: an election to prevent any transition

This year, in addition to Mr. Assad, will compete Abdallah Salloum Abdallah, Minister of State from 2016 to 2020, and Mahmoud Mareï, member of the so-called “tolerated” opposition inside the country and long described by the opposition in exile as an extension of the scheme. Candidates had to obtain the support of at least 35 MPs, each being allowed to support only one candidate.

The presence of Mr. Mareï, who had notably participated in negotiations organized under the aegis of the United Nations in Geneva to try to find a way out of the war, is seen by a Western diplomat as “The only concession made by the regime abroad. In this case to his Russian ally who, for reasons of appearance, is keen on a semblance of “diversity” ”. The opposition in exile, it is excluded de facto, the electoral law stipulating that the candidates must have stayed in the country permanently during the last ten years.

Criticisms fed

Western members of the UN Security Council, led by the United States, France and the United Kingdom, rejected the election result in advance. “France will not recognize any validity in the elections planned by the regime at the end of May”, assaulted the French ambassador to the UN, Nicolas de Rivière, during a monthly session of the Security Council on Syria, on April 28. Without including the diaspora, they “Will be held under the sole control of the regime, without international supervision” as provided for in resolution 2254 (adopted in 2015), he added.

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