Syria votes in ‘charade’ election

Video: Foreign Correspondent Jonathan Rugman reports

President Assad’s opponents, including rebel fighters, the political opposition in exile, western powers and Gulf Arabs have dismissed the election as a charade, saying no credible vote can be held in a country where wide swathes of territory are outside state control and millions of people have been displaced.

Insurgents battling to overthrow President Assad stepped up attacks in government-controlled areas in the build-up to the election, seeking to disrupt the vote.

We hope for security and stability. God willing, President Bashar al-Assad. Syrian voter

Polling stations opened on Tuesday morning in parts of Syria where Mr Assad continues to rule and state television broadcast footage of people queuing to cast their votes in several cities.

“We hope for security and stability,” said Hussam al-Din al Aws, an Arabic teacher who was the first person to vote at a polling station at a Damascus secondary school. Asked who would win, he responded: “God willing, President Bashar al-Assad.”

‘Political message’

President Assad is running against two relatively unknown challengers who were approved by a parliament packed with his supporters, the first time in half a century that Syrians have been offered any choice of candidates.

The last seven presidential votes were referendums to approve Bashar or his father, Hafez al-Assad. Hafez never scored less than 99 per cent, while his son got 97.6 per cent seven years ago.

The armed terrorist groups have increased their threats because they fear (a high level of) participation. Information Minister Omran Zoabi

Neither of the president’s rivals, former minister Hassan al-Nouri and parliamentarian Maher Hajjar, is expected to make major inroads into those levels of support.

Syrian officials confidently predicted a big turnout and said that a high level of participation would be as significant as the result itself.

“The size of the turnout is a political message,” Information Minister Omran Zoabi said on Monday night.

Read more: Syrian elections will have 'no credibility' - FCO

“The armed terrorist groups have increased their threats because they fear (a high level of) participation,” he said, referring to the rebels.

“If these terrorist groups had any popularity it would be enough to ensure the failure of the election. But they realise they have no popularity, so they want to affect the level of participation so they can say the turnout was low.”

Tens of thousands of Syrian expatriates and refugees cast their ballots last week in an early round of voting, although the number was just a fraction of the nearly 3 million refugees and other Syrians living abroad.

Syrian civil war

The election takes place three years after protests first broke out in Syria, calling for democratic reform in a country dominated since 1970 by the Assad family. Authorities responded with force and the uprising descended into civil war.

Mr Assad’s forces, backed by allies including Iran and Lebanon’s militant group Hezbollah, have consolidated their control in central Syria but the insurgents and foreign jihadi fighters hold broad expanses of northern and eastern Syria.

Peace talks in Geneva between the government and the opposition National Coalition, which the opposition said must be based on the principle of President Assad stepping aside in favour of a transitional government, collapsed in February.