Syria’s opposition condemned Monday’s announcement of a June 3 presidential election expected to keep Bashar al-Assad in power despite tens of thousands of deaths in an anti-regime revolt since 2011. “The Assad regime’s announcement today that a ‘presidential election’ would be held in June should be treated as a farce and be rejected by the international community,” said the office of opposition National Coalition leader Ahmad Jarba. “With vast parts of Syria completely destroyed by Assad’s air force, army and militias over the last three years, and with a third of Syria’s population displaced internally or in refugee camps in the region, there is no electorate in Syria in a condition to exercise its right to vote,” it said.
Parliament speaker Mohammed al-Lahham earlier announced the election will be held on June 3, while Syrians living outside the country would vote on May 28. Voting would be “free and fair… and under full judicial supervision”, he said.
Assad, who became president after his father Hafez died in 2000 and whose current term ends on July 17, is widely expected to run and win another seven-year mandate despite the conflict. New election rules require candidates to have lived in Syria for the past decade, effectively preventing key opposition figures in exile from standing for office.
The election will be held more than three years into a war that has killed more than 150,000 people and forced nearly half the population to flee their homes.
Full Article: Syria calls presidential election for June 3 | GlobalPost.
