On June 3, Syria held its first multi-candidate presidential election in over forty years. Dr. Bashar al-Assad of the Ba’ath Party won his third term as president with over 88.7% of the vote, while opposition Dr. Hassan Abdullah al-Nouri and Mr. Maher Abd Al-Hafiz Majjar gained 4.3% and 3.2%, respectively. While a total of twenty-four candidates submitted applications applications to run for the presidency, only the three mentioned met all the required conditions for running, including the support of thirty-five parliament members. It is hardly a fluke that Assad’s victory was so large— his two opposing candidates were little known amongst the public, and seen by many as only figurative contenders needed to label the election as multi-candidate.
Official results label the voter turnout at 73.42%, but there is much criticism surrounding the legitimacy of these numbers. Voting was only held in areas controlled by the government, excluding about half of the country that was currently under occupation by rebellious factions. However, it is also worth noting that the civilian population in these areas is notably lower than the government-controlled areas, which includes the majority of the highly-populous urbanized areas. It also cannot be overlooked that all of these estimates do not account for the thousands of civilian causalities that the civil war has caused, and those who died before being able to vote.
Another large demographic of the Syrian population includes the displaced refugees currently living in other countries— it is estimated that 2.7 million of these refugees either abstained from voting or were legally ineligible to do so. Contrastingly, most of the 1.1 million Syrian refugees living in Beirut, Lebanon were extremely desperate to vote, some believing that they would not be allowed back into Syria if they didn’t.
Both the EU and the United States have condemned the vote as illegitimate, claiming that it cannot be considered a genuine democratic victory when large percentages of the population are not permitted to vote, and when held amidst an armed civil conflict.
Official reactions from organizations known to publicly support the current Syrian government are all very like-minded, repeatedly praising the ‘transparency’ of the election, claiming that the victory would certainly lead to ‘stability and national agreement’ within Syria. Assad himself takes his victory as a clear sign of the legitimacy of his regime.
In reality, even after the election, little has changed within Syria. Both Assad and rebel factions show no sign of coming to a compromise, and there is no sign of the conflict ending any time soon. The length of this war could be thought of as the most critical factor impacting the opinion of Syrian civilians— where once people cried out for justice and a change in government, they now struggle to even attain basic necessities. It is no surprise that the public would be tired of fighting— above all else, they must be seeking for some sort of conclusion, just so the conflict can finally end.
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