Elections took place in government-controlled parts of Syria, and Syrians elected president for the next seven years. According to official results, 78.66 percent of voters eventually went to the polls, Reuters reported.
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One of the two candidates who opposed Assad won 1.5 percent of the vote, and the other 3.3 percent of the ballots, the AFP agency said.
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There was no doubt about Assad’s victory, the AP agency wrote, which also reminded that in a country ravaged by the Ten-Year War, people living in territories controlled by insurgents or Kurds did not vote. These areas, located in northwestern and northeastern Syria, are home to at least eight million people. Another more than five million Syrian refugees, mostly living in neighboring countries, abstained largely, according to the AP. Assad’s government controls about two-thirds of Syrian territory.
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The UN and many Western nations do not consider the elections to be democratic or legitimate. According to the UN resolution, they were to take place only after the creation of a new constitution. But negotiations on it are stalled. In a statement on Tuesday, the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Britain and the United States refused to consider the Syrian elections free and fair. U.S. and European officials pointed out, among other things, that they lacked international oversight and did not represent all Syrians. According to Assad’s government, the elections prove that Syria is functioning normally despite the war.
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According to the AP, the elections are unlikely to change the situation in Syria too much. While Assad and his allies – Russia and Iran – are seeking confirmation of the legitimacy of the current head of state, the re-election of the current president is likely to deepen the rift with the West, the agency writes. According to her, this may mean that Damascus will become more attached to Moscow, Tehran or Beijing.
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The Assad clan has ruled Syria since 1970, when the pro-Soviet Ba’athists (Ba’athist – Socialist Party of the Arab Revival) came to power led by the father of the current president, Hafiz Assad. The current president took office in 2000 after his death. Ophthalmologist Bashar Assad initially claimed to make political reforms, but the regime was more brutal under his leadership than in the days of Hafiz Assad.
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The government ruthlessly suppressed anti-government protests in 2011, plunged Syria into a protracted civil war and imprisoned thousands of opponents, many of whom are still missing. The war killed 400,000 people and forced about 11 million people, about half the population, to flee their homes.
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