Thousands of Syrians in government-held areas of the war-torn country headed to polling stations early Wednesday to vote in a presidential election set to give President Bashar Assad a fourth seven-year term.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
The vote is the second presidential election since the country's conflict began 10 years ago and has been dismissed as a sham by the opposition and Western countries, including the United States.
"The Assad regime's so-called presidential election is neither free nor fair," US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in a Twitter post on Wednesday. "The US joins France, Germany, Italy, and the UK in calling for the rejection of the regime's attempts to regain legitimacy without respecting the Syrian people's human rights and freedoms."
The Assad regime's so-called presidential election is neither free nor fair. The U.S. joins France, Germany, Italy, and the UK in calling for the rejection of the regime's attempts to regain legitimacy without respecting the Syrian people's human rights and freedoms.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) May 25, 2021
Two other candidates are running for the country's top post, which has been held by members of the Assad family for five decades.
They are little-known figures, Abdullah Salloum Abdullah and Mahmoud Ahmad Marie. But competition with Assad is largely seen as symbolic.
On Wednesday morning, Assad cast his ballot in the Damascus suburb of Douma. The area was one of the main rebel strongholds in the country until it was retaken by government forces in 2018. It was the scene of an alleged poison gas attack in April 2018 that triggered strikes by the US, Britain and France.
No vote will be held in northeast Syria, which is controlled by US-backed Kurdish-led fighters, or in the northwestern province of Idlib, which is the last major rebel stronghold in the country.
Still, in some parts of government-held areas, including the southern provinces of Daraa and Sweida, many have rejected the vote as "illegitimate."
The Syrian Democratic Council that runs daily affairs in northeast Syria said in a statement it will not take part in the vote "before political solutions in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions, release of detainees, return of displaced and putting the basis for a political structure far away from tyranny."
"Syria's presidential election is not expected to be free, fair, or legitimate," said Edward Denhert, Middle Eastern research analyst at The Economist Intelligence Unit. In a note, he said the sham election will stir renewed condemnation from the US and some EU nations, deepening the rift between Syria and the West.
"Consequently, Assad's regime will be forced to pivot further towards its Russian and Iranian backers, and increasingly towards China," Denhert said.
The vote this year comes as Syria's economy is in free fall as a result of Western sanctions, government corruption and infighting, the coronavirus and the financial crisis in Lebanon, Syria's main link with the outside world.
Some of the voters waiting at polling stations were putting on face masks. Over the past three months, intensive care units in public hospitals in Damascus reached full capacity due to a sharp rise in coronavirus infections, leading doctors to transfer patients to hospitals in other provinces. In March, Assad and his wife, Asma, tested positive for the virus.
The Biden administration has said it will not recognize the result of the Syrian election unless the voting is free, fair, supervised by the United Nations and represents all of Syrian society.
"We are not involved in these elections ... in any way, and we, of course, have no mandate to be," UN secretary-general's spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters at the United Nations on Tuesday.
"We are, of course, aware that the elections are taking place. It's important to remind you in answering the question that ... these are being called under the auspices of the current constitution and not part of the political process that was established under resolution 2254."
Syria had a population of 23 million before the conflict broke out a decade ago. The fighting has left nearly half a million dead and half the country's population displaced, more than 5 million of them refugees outside Syria.
The civil war broke out in 2011 when Arab Spring-inspired protests against Assad family rule turned into an armed insurgency in response to a brutal military crackdown.
Assad has been in power since 2000 when he took over from his father, Hafez, who ruled before that for 30 years. Despite the war, which seemed at one point to threaten his rule, Assad remained in power supported by regional powerhouses Iran and Russia, which sent in military advisers, combatants and air power to push back the armed opposition.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
